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Upcoming Jewish Literary Events at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York recently released its spring calendar, and there are some excellent literary events being planned:

Check event details for ticket prices and other information.

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!

    May Event in D.C.—Family Stories: Daughters, Mothers, and Bubbes

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    On Sunday, I was fortunate to visit the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, a marvelous gem of a place near Dupont Circle in Washington. I was there to give a reading from my new short-story collection, Quiet Americans, but I also had time to tour the exhibitions, and I’m so glad that I did.

    While I was there, I learned about a forthcoming event that may be of interest to some of you:

    The National Museum of American Jewish Military History and The Washington DC Jewish Community Center present:

    Family Stories: Daughters, Mothers, and Bubbes
    Sunday May 1, 2011, 1pm-5pm

    Are you a photographer, an artist, a filmmaker? A writer or storyteller? A stand-up comedian, dancer, or singer? Always wanted to try one of these? Come show off your talents!

    On May 1, the museum and the Washington, DC Jewish Community Center will devote this special afternoon to some of the most important women in our lives. We invite you to portray your beloved female relatives through a skit, scrapbook, video, song and dance routine, or whatever your imagination can conjure.

    For more details and submission information, please visit the NMAJMH website.

    Notes from Around the Web: Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Many apologies for missing last week’s lit-links post. And fair warning: I’m unlikely to post next Friday as well: I’ll be away at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference. But don’t worry: I shall return!

  • The New Vilna Review presents an informative interview with Carol Hupping of the Jewish Publication Society, digging into the JPS’s past, present, and future.
  • Having recently gone to see the Hannah Senesh exhibition at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, I appreciated Elissa Strauss’s post about it for The Forward’s Sisterhood blog.
  • Fiction Writers Review has posted an exceedingly interesting interview with Jacob Paul, author of Sarah/Sara, which I reviewed (also for FWR) last year.
  • I’ve been noticing a growing cluster of Holocaust-related books authored by grandchildren of those who lived under Nazism. Among the latest (in addition, of course, to my own Quiet Americans, which was officially released last week) is Johanna Adorjan’s An Exclusive Love. Subtitled “A Memoir,” Adorjan’s book is, in the words of Jewish Journal’s reviewer Elaine Margolin, “an imaginative piece of work that blends fact and fantasy.”
  • And on a related note: Last Sunday’s New York Times Book Review featured a piece on Ferdinand von Schirach’s Crime (translated by Carol Brown Janeway): “To say that Germans and guilt have a special relationship would be to dive into the deep end of platitude, but in von Schirach’s case it’s difficult not to raise the issue, and not only because he’s titled his preface ‘Guilt.’ His grandfather, Baldur von Schirach, head of the Hitler Youth for most of the 1930s and later the wartime governor of Vienna, was convicted of crimes against humanity at Nuremberg.” Tbr, to be sure.
  • Finally, I hope that you’re following my virtual book tour for my new short-story collection, Quiet Americans. Several of the “stops” feature material of Jewish literary interest. Check out the itinerary (with brief content descriptions) here. (Plus, some really lovely reviews have been coming in.)

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Jewish Literary Links: Shavua Tov Edition

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Normally, I post my link compilations on Friday morning, before Shabbat. But this week, I made so many worthy discoveries after I prepared the Friday post that I am compelled to present a second batch. Let’s consider it the “Shavua Tov” edition!

  • First, as mentioned here yesterday, The Forward has announced a poetry contest commemorating the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
  • Also from The Forward (via the Arty Semite blog): three poems by Alicia Ostriker.
  • And The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog has also given us this gem: an update on author Imre Kertész. NB: Benjamin Ivry’s post is in English, but if you understand Hungarian or French, you’ll also be able to appreciate the video.
  • One reason I found the Kertész post so striking is that I’ve recently finished reading Ruth Franklin’s sharp new book, A Thousand Darknesses: Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction, which features a chapter devoted to the Hungarian Nobel literature laureate. Franklin will be interviewed by James Young at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City on Wednesday, January 12. Details about the event can be found online.
  • Big thanks to the Jewish Women’s Archive for compiling the #JWA100, a list of more than 100 Jewish women who tweet.
  • Finally, on Twitter and elsewhere, many of us are sending healing thoughts to Debbie Friedman, the acclaimed Jewish songwriter who has been hospitalized in serious condition. See the URJ homepage for more information. And, returning to The Forward, you can read about efforts and prayers in her honor.