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Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Adding another title to that TBR list: Elizabeth Edelglass’s take on Israeli author Savyon Liebrecht’s Apples from the Desert: Selected Stories has made me eager to get my hands on a copy of that book.
  • “Finding Unexpected Faith in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit” is the title of a remarkable excerpt from Elizabeth L. Silver’s new memoir The Tincture of Time, which you can find over on Literary Hub.
  • Job alert in New York: “The Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) is seeking a PJ Library Communications and Marketing Coordinator who will implement a calendar of varied and diverse marketing and communication needs. The majority of this position serves the more than 26,000 New York-area PJ Library subscribers, with special projects and national-scale duties as assigned by the national Marketing and Operations team. This position reports to the Director of PJ Library in New York with cross-supervision by the Project Lead on the Marketing and Operations team in the national office.”
  • ICYMI: There’s a new poem of mine, titled “History Lesson in 210 Words,” over on the Jewish Journal website.
  • And as we close a week during which we again observed Yom HaShoah: some reflections on “The Holocaust on Display,” with a focus on a current photography exhibit (“Memory Unearthed: The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross”) at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, by Howard Richard Debs, on the Hevria site.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • “The digital version of The Canadian Jewish News, cjnews.com, is rolling out a first-person essay section, and we’re looking for content! We’re soliciting first-person essays that are fresh, thoughtful and honest, written in a strong narrative voice. Wherever you fall on the denominational spectrum – whether you’re Orthodox, traditional, secular, an atheist, whatever – we’re interested in writing that highlights your experience of being Jewish – whatever that looks like, or means to you – in 2017.” Check the announcement for guidelines (and note that I’ve confirmed with the editor that essayists will be paid).
  • “JWA is accepting applications for the 2017-2018 Rising Voices Fellowship, a national program for Jewish female-identified teens that builds leadership through writing and develops young women’s ability to influence important conversations of the Jewish community. Interested teens going into grades 10-12 who have a passion for writing, feminism, and social justice are invited to apply by April 23, 2017.”
  • Posted this week: the February Jewish Book Carnival, featuring news, reviews, and interviews from the world of Jewish Books.
  • Also up this week (and much appreciated by our team at Fig Tree Books LLC): a Publishers Weekly Q&A with author Abigail Pogrebin ahead of the release of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew.
  • And ICYMI: Last week, I participated with several other authors in “Memory Transferred: Voices from the Descendants of Destruction and Displacement” at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Video of that event is now available. Meantime, I’m preparing for a panel happening next week at Columbia University, on the subject of Jewish book publishing.

    • Shabbat shalom, everyone.

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday My Machberet presents an array of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • It’s always interesting to see which Jewish books others recommend and write about. On the Bustle site, Anna Linton has listed 10 great books that she thinks every Jewish girl should read.
  • One book that this Jewish girl is planning to read asap is Helen Maryles Shankman’s In the Land of Armadillos, which was published this week. (Certain that it’s great from this Jewish Book Council review. Plus, it’s not news that Helen is a gifted writer.)
  • February’s topic of interest over on the Mosaic site is “Identity and the Jewish Museum,” and the offerings kicked off this week with Edward Rothstein’s thought-provoking analysis of “The Problem with Jewish Museums.”
  • Over on the Fig Tree Books website, Merridawn Duckler writes about Grace Paley’s Later the Same Day.
  • And speaking of the Fig Tree Books website–it has received a major makeover! Take a look, and note especially an exciting new direct-sale feature (with discounts!).

    • Shabbat Shalom!

    10 Ways to Celebrate Jewish Book Month

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    book.month.poster.2013The Holy Days are barely behind us, and we’re already preparing for Hanukkah (the first day of which, as some have realized, coincides with American Thanksgiving this year). But between these events comes something else that should be on your calendar: Jewish Book Month.

    Running this year from October 26 to November 26, Jewish Book Month is associated most visibly with the New York-based Jewish Book Council. Many of the author visits to North American synagogues and Jewish community centers that are highlights of local Jewish book festivals occur during this time period. Check this list of sites associated with the Jewish Book Council to see what may be planned during Jewish Book Month in your area.

    But whether you’re in New York or New Zealand, you can find ways to appreciate the richness and diversity of Jewish books and writing over the next month. Here are 10 suggestions:

    Read the rest of my article for The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog right here.

    Beyond Birthright: How Fortysomethings Can Cultivate Jewish Connections

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    ejewishphilanthropyToday’s eJewish Philanthropy newsletter includes an article by yours truly. Especially if you happen to a Jewish fortysomething, I hope you’ll spend a few moments reading “Beyond Birthright: How Fortysomethings Can Cultivate Jewish Connections.” (Lots of ideas here for those seeking Jewishly-inflected reading and writing resources, by the way.) Thanks in advance for taking a look!

    From My Bookshelf: Biography of the Heroic Herman Stern

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    ShoptaughAs mentioned on my other blog (Practicing Writing), I recently had the opportunity to speak about Quiet Americans with a group of readers at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage. Following our meeting, we toured the museum’s new exhibit, “Against the Odds: American Jews and the Rescue of Europe’s Refugees, 1933-1941.”

    I found the exhibit fascinating and returned another day to explore it more carefully. I also took notes. I was particularly captivated by the exhibit’s introduction to Herman Stern, a German-born Jew who immigrated to the U.S. in 1903. He was 16 at the time. Subsequently, Stern became a successful businessman in North Dakota. And from North Dakota, he managed to help more than 100 Jews escape from Nazi Europe.

    I wanted to know more details than the exhibit provided, so I put my research skills to work. Soon enough, I located a biography of Stern in a local college library: Terry Shoptaugh’s “You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me”: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, published in 2008 by the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University. (more…)