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TBR: Forthcoming Books by Jewish Book NETWORK Authors

by Erika Dreifus on
6

One of the best parts of participating in the Jewish Book NETWORK‘s Meet the Author Program as one of the 2011-12 authors is the opportunity I had on Sunday evening to meet some fellow NETWORK authors whom I’ve admired for a long time. For example, I was able to tell Melissa Fay Greene how much I learned from The Temple Bombing; I finally met Joan Leegant; and, thanks to the privileges of alphabetical order, I sat right next to David Bezmozgis (whose novel, The Free World, I’m just starting to read on my Kindle).

Many of the authors I had the good fortune to meet on Sunday–and others who may have shown up for one of the other sessions (this program is so large that not all of the authors can be accommodated in one evening)–are promoting books that have not yet been published.

Here are just ten forthcoming titles that were discussed on Sunday and/or are featured in this year’s Jewish Book NETWORK guide that I’m especially eager to read. (And if you’re a book reviewer looking for summer/fall titles to review, maybe you’ll find some here to interest you as well.)

  • Ellen Feldman, Next to Love (Spiegel & Grau, July)
  • Martin Fletcher, The List (St. Martin’s, October)
  • Pam Jenoff, The Things We Cherished (Doubleday, July)
  • Jodi Kantor, The Obamas (Little, Brown, November)
  • Peter Orner, Love and Shame and Love (Little, Brown, November)
  • Alyson Richman, The Lost Wife (Berkley/Penguin, September)
  • Rebecca Rosenblum, The Big Dream (Biblioasis, September)
  • Philip Schultz, My Dyslexia (Norton, September)
  • Anna Solomon, The Little Bride (Riverhead, September)
  • Evelyn Toynton, The Oriental Wife (Other Press, July)

    • Two more things: Evan Fallenberg’s novel, When We Danced on Water, was released just last week. So, technically, it’s no longer “forthcoming.” But I wanted to give it (and Evan, an author I’d heard about but hadn’t met before Sunday) a shout-out here, anyway. I also have to mention Randy Susan Meyers’s The Murderer’s Daughters. Randy was there on Sunday to promote the paperback, and I told her very honestly that a copy is atop the stack on my nightstand right now.

    Reactions? Thoughts?

    Notes from Around the Web: Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Get to know the next generation of Jewish children’s book reviewers by reading the winning entries in this year’s Moment magazine Publish-A-Kid contest.
  • UJA-Federation is looking for a part-time writer (New York).
  • This week, my short story, “The Quiet American, Or How to Be a Good Guest,” was featured on the Emerging Writers Network. This is the effective “title story” for my collection, Quiet Americans.
  • The aforementioned Emerging Writers Network is, like many other sites, celebrating Short Story Month. Which short-story collections on Jewish themes would you recommend to others? (Apart from Quiet Americans, of course!)
  • Welcome to the Web, Jewish News Archive!

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Notes from Around the Web: Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled
  • Looking for some book suggestions? Check out these reviews from the spring issue of Jewish Book World. (Ahem, does one of those books look especially familiar???)
  • If you’re interested in writing Jewish-themed children’s books, you’ll want to take a look at this workshop offering.
  • Remember when I told you about The Forward‘s poetry contest commemorating the centenary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire? Here’s the winning poem in English. (And here is a special section from The Forward presenting translations of coverage from 100 years ago.)
  • Josh Lambert’s latest books column for Tablet features a number of Italy-themed offerings. (And why not?)
  • Continuing with Italy: This week, I happened to discover Janna Malamud Smith’s striking essay, “An Italian Tragedy.” Smith’s father was Bernard Malamud; her mother was the daughter of Neapolitan immigrants.
  • In my previous life as a student and teacher of 20th-century French history, I would have been sure to attend next week’s event at Columbia University, a conference at the Maison Française on “The Rescue of Jews in France and its Empire during World War II.” The conference is free and open to the public, and it will feature evening film screenings by Pierre Sauvage, whose work I’ve mentioned on this blog before.
  • This Tablet story is the kind of thing I read and immediately begin envisioning as a work of fiction. I seem to be drawn to moral quandaries that confront families.
  • And speaking of families, here’s a glimpse of my niece’s Purim costume. (Of course, when R. first told me that she’d be dressing up as “Three Musketeers,” Aunt-Erika-the-Author imagined a more literary outfit.)

    • Shabbat shalom, everyone, and Chag Purim!

    Notes from Around the Web: Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    A few literary links to direct your way before Shabbat:

  • Really fascinating take on “[Jonathan] Franzen, [Allegra] Goodman, and ‘The Great American Novel’,” by Gabriel Brownstein over on The Millions.
  • Many Mazel Tovs to the finalists for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. This year, the award will be presented to a fiction writer, and the contenders are Allison Amend (Stations West), Nadia Kalman (The Cosmopolitans), Julie Orringer (The Invisible Bridge), Austin Ratner (The Jump Artist), and Joseph Skibell (A Curable Romantic).
  • The situation in Egypt has inspired author André Aciman to revisit his memories of growing up (Jewish) in Alexandria.
  • Book critic Sandee Brawarsky recommends the poetry of Merle Feld.
  • Jewcy.com presents its canonical “50 Most Essential Works Of Jewish Fiction Of The Last 100 Years.” (hat tip, Jewish Book Council)
  • Less canonical, perhaps, but no less worth reading (at least in my view): the bibliography that accompanied a recent panel on Jewish-American Fiction in the 21st Century.
  • Last Sunday, I spent a lovely afternoon touring (and reading from my new book of short stories, Quiet Americans) at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History.
  • Speaking of my book, please check in with our blog tour. Our latest stops have taken us to the Jewish Muse and First Line blogs.

    • Shabbat shalom!

    From The Forward: The Triangle Fire Poetry Contest

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    A century ago, 146 workers – mostly immigrant women – died as flames engulfed the floors where they worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City. The ensuing public outcry against unsafe work conditions was covered in detail in the pages of the Jewish Daily Forward by poet Morris Rosenfeld.

    Rosenfeld’s portrayal of the brutal effects of employee exploitation led to a trial of the factory’s owners, a greater push to unionize the garment trade and the establishment of new labor laws designed to protect workers.

    But did these events eradicate sweatshops?
    Lead to equality of opportunity for women?
    Change attitudes toward immigrants?
    End exploitation of the poor?

    The Forward is accepting original, unpublished English and Yiddish poems that address these questions or reflect upon the tragic fire’s meaning and legacy. A distinguished panel of judges will select a winning poem in each language to receive a $500 cash prize and to be published in the Forward.

    There is a $15 entry fee for this contest (with the puzzling exception in the cases of entrants “who are legal residents of Colorado, Maryland, North Dakoa, and Vermont”). Submission deadline is 5 p.m. EST on February 14, 2011. More information and the complete rules can be found at The Forward’s contest website.