Q3 Contributions
Ever since my story collection Quiet Americans was published in January 2011, I’ve been offering quarterly contributions based on recent sales to The Blue Card, an organization that provides assistance to U.S.-based survivors of Nazi persecution and their families. This quarter, the amount was quite small, but thankfully, some people are still buying the book! Continue reading ›
Party Time!
I attended a lovely event yesterday evening celebrating the new issue of Lilith magazine—and the Jewish holiday of Sukkot—over at Sutton Place Synagogue in New York. Here’s a view of the roof of the congregation’s sukkah shortly before sunset.
#AmReading
A shoutout for Gabrielle Zevin’s latest novel, Young Jane Young, which I’m reading at the moment and enjoying immensely. Continue reading ›
Tally-Ho!
As you’ll recall, my year of blogging for Poetry Has Value reached its end a number of months ago. But that doesn’t mean I can’t continue to share my poetry submission stats with you. So here’s the report for the month of September.
Also, if you’re new to these posts, it may be helpful for you to know that I work very hard to submit my work mainly to paying venues that don’t charge fees for journal/website publication. If you’re similarly looking for paying calls and contests that don’t charge submission fees, you’re always welcome to check my monthly newsletter (and with my weekly “Monday Markets” posts on this blog).
On with the report: Continue reading ›
So, I’m not expecting to see my byline in The New Yorker anytime soon.
For that matter, The New York Times Books Desk probably isn’t all that happy with me, either. Continue reading ›
Hadar Goldin: Art, Inspiration, Hope
Last Wednesday I attended an opening reception for an exhibition of art by Hadar Goldin. At 23, the artist was a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Forces in August 2014 when, as I wrote for Tablet, “he was kidnapped and killed in Gaza by Hamas terrorists…just two hours after a cease-fire was declared in Operation Protective Edge hostilities. Three years later, Hamas has not returned his body. The exhibition thus not only celebrates Hadar’s life and artistic talents; it is also intended to raise awareness of his story and to compel international action to bring him—and Oron Shaul, another soldier killed in Gaza that summer whose body Hamas has not released—home to their families in Israel.”
Celebrating Shai Held and The Heart of Torah
If last week’s event was bittersweet, last night I attended a wholly festive celebration: the book launch for Rabbi Shai Held’s The Heart of Torah: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion.
Erika Dreifus is the author of Quiet Americans: Stories (Last Light Studio), which is an ALA Sophie Brody Medal Honor Title for outstanding Jewish literature. Quiet Americans was also named a Notable Book (The Jewish Journal) and a Top Small-Press Book (Shelf Unbound). Erika is a contributing editor for Fiction Writers Review and an advisory board member for J Journal: New Writing on Justice, and she wrote the section on “Choosing a Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing” for the second edition of Tom Kealey’s Creative Writing MFA Handbook (Continuum, 2008). Erika is also the editor/publisher of The Practicing Writer, a free (and popular) e-newsletter featuring advice, opportunities, and resources on the craft and business of writing for fictionists, poets, and writers of creative nonfiction.
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