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Writing (and Publishing) While Jewish: The Situation in 2018

by Erika Dreifus on
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Last Sunday, I had the privilege of co-leading a session—with author Rachel Kadish—at Grub Street’s The Muse and the Marketplace conference in Boston.

Session sign from The Muse and the Marketplace.

Here’s the official description for the session on “Writing (and Publishing) While Jewish: The Situation in 2018”: (more…)

Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

by Erika Dreifus on
0

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.

  • Mazal tov to Ruth Knafo Setton on winning the latest Jerry Jazz Musician New Short Fiction Award. Read the winning story–about a young Jewish boy in World War II Casablanca–online.
  • New addition to the English-language writing community in Israel: WriteSpace Jerusalem.
  • “Ben Nadler chats with Catherine Tung about Judaism, punk rock, and his newest novel, The Sea Beach Line.” Courtesy of Fiction Writers Review.
  • “The Bardejov Jewish Preservation Committee (BJPC) is seeking a writer/editor to work on a new book publication, starting immediately. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, BJPC is dedicated to the restoration of the Jewish sites in Bardejov, Slovakia – a UNESCO World Site Heritage; and to documenting the heritage and history of Jewish Bardejov. The writer/editor’s main task will be BJPC’s new publication, focused on pictures and documents that tell the stories of Jewish Bardejov before, during, and after the Holocaust.”  NB: “Preferable” job location for this position is Pasadena, California; “optional” location is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • Job available in Los Angeles: “Reporting to the Program Director, PJ Library, the Program Coordinator helps to create, implement & promote PJ Library programming in addition to assisting with the general work of PJ Library in Los Angeles as needed.”

    • Shabbat shalom!

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    by Erika Dreifus on
    0

    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.

  • Over on Tablet, Adam Kirsch examines “where Jewish writers are finding [publishing] homes these days, and why.”
  • Speaking of Tablet: they’re looking for two paid, part-time fall editorial interns. (Don’t forget: Fig Tree Books is offering a paid internship as well.)
  • Spotlighting debut novels by Michelle Brafman and Diana Bletter, The Jewish Week‘s Sandee Brawarsky declares this to be “the summer of the chevra kadisha novel.”
  • I’ve followed poet Edward Hirsch’s work for many years; I read his book-length elegy for his son when it was published last year. So I appreciated this profile of Hirsch—and Gabriel—in the current issue of Moment magazine.
  • Finally, in the words of JTA/Suzanne Pollak, “In Jennifer Weiner’s hit novels, it’s a (Jewish) woman’s world.” (But many of you knew that already!)

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links

    by Erika Dreifus on
    0

    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.

    “But it’s Thursday,” you’re saying!

    That is correct. But since I will be in transit to Minneapolis tomorrow–and since many folks will be heading offline for the concluding weekend of Pesach fairly soon, I figured I’d post early this week.

  • I’m currently reading Michal Lemberger’s After Abel and Other Stories, an extraordinary collection that spotlights women’s experiences in the Bible. (If you liked The Red Tent, this book is for you.) Check out the author’s conversation with Deborah Kalb for some more info.
  • Check out the latest links on American Jewish Experience (AJE) over on the Fig Tree Books blog. (My own favorite is the five-year Jewish-holiday calendar from the URJ.)
  • Speaking of Fig Tree Books, this week I was a guest on The Next Best Book Club blog, touting three upcoming releases.
  • ICYMI: a Passover poem & its postscript.
  • Finally, you’ve got some time (but not much) if you’d like to submit poems for Poetry Super Highway’s 17th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day Issue. Deadline is Friday. (NB: This is not a paying opportunity. But when it comes to Holocaust-related writing, I’m personally a lot more flexible on my own “must-be-paid-for-my-work” rule.)

    • See you all next week.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    7

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

  • Just in time for Rosh Hashanah: a new issue from JewishFiction.net.
  • Etgar Keret recalls writing his first short story.
  • Tent: “immersive, intense, free, week-long workshops for anyone, ages 21 to 30, who’s curious about the connections between Jewishness and modern culture.” Offerings include workshops in creative writing and journalism.
  • “Starting in September, Lizzie Skurnick Books, an imprint of Ig Publishing, will begin rereleasing the classic Y.A. literature that Skurnick has already made a career of celebrating.” Including the All-of-a-Kind Family series.
  • And finally, an essay by yours truly, “Childless Does Not Mean Clueless,” on The Forward’s “The Sisterhood” blog.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    0

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

  • Publishers Weekly has given a starred review to Jason K. Friedman’s short-story collection, Fire Year, which won the Sarabande Press Mary McCarthy Prize for Short Fiction. Here’s the review’s first line: “These seven funny, fearless outsiders’ tales set in Savannah and Atlanta—some depicting bygone orthodox Jewish communities, others the rife-with-irony “New South”—gravitate toward taboo.” The book will be published in November. (h/t Racelle Rosett)
  • Over on Tablet, Marjorie Ingall recommends three Jewish biographies (ostensibly for children) that “are so unabashedly fabulous, such a perfect blend of writing and art, so good at explaining complicated subjects, so inspiring without being sappy, you need to stop what you’re doing and buy them all right now.”
  • An exemplary “negative review”Michael Berenbaum’s sage and sensitive analysis of BDS advocate Alice Walker’s latest book. (On a related note: my reaction to the news that the University of Michigan’s Center for the Education of Women had rescinded an invitation for Walker to address its 50th-anniversary celebration gathering.)
  • On Bloomberg.com, Manuela Hoelterhoff takes readers through what Laurie Muchnick calls “surprising tour of novels and memoirs about the Nazi period.”
  • The Forward‘s “The Sisterhood” blog is asking readers for brief submissions (up to 200 words) to include in a larger package on the role of Jewish women in mourning. Submission deadline is August 28. Details and submission form provided here. (NB: This is a nonpaying opportunity.)

    • Shabbat shalom.