Lilith Magazine Extends Contest Deadlines

Lilith magazine, which describes itself as “independent, Jewish & frankly feminist,” has extended the deadlines for both its Charlotte Newberger Poetry Competition and its Annual Fiction Contest. Entries for both competitions are now due March 15, 2012, and there are no entry fees. Cash awards and publication await the winners, so take a look at the guidelines.

On a personal-professional note, I’ll add that I’m happy to see Lilith using an online submission manager, and I appreciate all of the additional submission guidelines that the magazine has made available there. Plus, I’m eternally grateful to Lilith for releasing one of my own early short stories in print. (The story has also been made available on the Web as part of the magazine’s online adoption anthology).

Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

  • From Women in Judaism: “We are delighted to announce the electronic publication of two new issues of Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal. The journal can be accessed at www.womeninjudaism.org. Click on the following links to access the new issues: Vol. 8:1 http://tinyurl.com/7plstwa; Vol. 8:2 http://tinyurl.com/lgo2br.”
  • Lisa Katz goes “Beyond Amichai” in her take on contemporary Israeli poetry.
  • Discovered this extraordinary photo-essay-exhibit by Beth Burstein thanks to the lively discussion unfolding in a Generations of the Shoah (GSI) Facebook discussion group. As curator Sura Levine describes it, this work “explores[s] Burstein’s dual identity as an American born well after World War II and as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Intimate and public, these images function at the margins of both the documentary and fine art.”
  • Mazel tov to the National Jewish Book Awards’ latest winners and finalists.
  • Coming up February 16 in NYC: “Soviet-Jewish Experience in NYC, 1972-2000, In Fact and Fiction.” Featuring Anya Ulinich, Lina Zeldovich, Mikhail Iossel, Emily Rubin, and Anneliese Orleck. Tickets are $10 ($8 for Members of the CUNY Graduate Center).
  • Attention, book bloggers! “The Sydney Taylor Book Award committee is preparing to announce the best Jewish kidlit published in the past year. Winners will be revealed in mid-January, and there will be a blog tour for medal-winning authors/illustrators in February! If you’re interested in interviewing a winner and hosting a stop on the blog tour, please let us know! If you’d like to participate, please email Barbara Krasner(at)barbarakrasner(dot)att(dot)net and CC Heidi Estrin at Heidi(at)cbiboca(dot)org.”
  • Yesterday’s main feature on Jewish Ideas Daily was a piece titled “Among the Literati.” Its author: yours truly.
  • Shabbat shalom!
    (Photo by Reut Miryam Cohen.)

    Anthology Seeks Work from Jewish Women Writers

    I’ll admit that I was a little surprised when I saw this call for submissions, which showed up on a list I subscribe to titled PayingWriterJobs. I was surprised because there’s no payment for selected work. But, as I’ve said before, because the publication opportunities with Jewish-themed magazines and websites are more limited than those that I feature on Practicing Writing and in The Practicing Writer, I relax the “must-pay” standard when I post opportunities for writers on My Machberet. So here you go: (more…)

    Does Your Kid Love Books?

    If you’ve got a little bookworm on your hands–or you’re perhaps looking for something to help ignite a spark–check out Moment magazine’s Publish-a-Kid contest: “We invite young readers to write book reviews. Winning entries will be published in the pages of Moment. And yes, there will be prizes, too! We’ve selected a list of books for you to choose from. Pick one or more that you enjoy or find intriguing and tell us why!”

    The contest is open to “anyone ages 9-13,” and the magazine “encourage[s] children of all faiths to enter.” There’s no entry fee, and the deadline is February 15, 2012. You can read the 2011 winning entries online, and more about the contest, including the list of potential titles and the full rules/guidelines, right here.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

  • Some fascinating literary history involving Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emma Lazarus, courtesy of Benjamin Ivry on The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog.
  • Thanks to the Yiddishkayt site, I discovered a fabulous video profile of author Arnost Lustig (1926-2011) that was produced for Czech TV. Thankfully, there are English subtitles. And the profile perfectly captures Arnost, with whom I had the privilege of studying in the Prague Summer Program in 2004. Arnost would have turned 85 last week.
  • On her Jewish Muse blog, Linda K. Wertheimer reflects on writing about faith and related writings that she published this year.
  • It’s not common for me to publicly utter anything resembling a criticism of Israel. (See this poem on that subject.) On the contrary, one link I planned to share this week is The Jewish Week‘s editorial chiding The New York Times, which includes a number of sentiments that I share about the latter’s Israel coverage. But that same New York Times was also the source this week of an Israel-related op-ed that I find deeply disturbing—and this time my upset is not directed toward the newspaper. I hope that Yad Vashem will correct the injustice described in the piece (and confirmed by an easy online search).
  • After an inexcusable delay, I’m currently reading Joan Leegant’s Wherever You Go. I’m sorry that it took me this long to begin this excellent novel.
  • Shabbat shalom and Happy 2012, all!