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Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish literary news from around the Web.

  • This week I had the great pleasure of reading Jami Attenberg’s new novel, The Middlesteins (thank you, NetGalley!). I hope to write a full post about it at some point. Suffice to say that I recommend it highly. For now, I’ll point you to the ever-sage Adam Kirsch for a detailed review.
  • A reliably beautiful post from Richard Chess, writing about Michael Chabon, stories, Israel, and so much more.
  • The California-based Jewish Women’s Theatre seeks submissions for its “Culture Klatch”: “Be a part of this culture klatch by submitting your play, monologue, poem, essay, story, song, etc. to the Jewish Women’s Theatre. Material will be read in the JWT signature Salon Theatre with a professional cast.” (via the WomenArts Theatre Funding News)
  • Baltimore Jewish Times is advertising for a Senior Writer.
  • Forgive me if I’ve posted this before, but it seemed new to me when I read it this week: another profile in the press about JewishFiction.net, where I’ll have a piece appearing before too long.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Next Year in Amherst: A Bread Loaf for Jewish Writers

    by Erika Dreifus on
    3

    Oh, if I were some years younger! What an incredible-sounding program is in the works:

    Tent: Creative Writing, Amherst, MA
    A week-long seminar in creative writing and literature at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA, June 2–9, 2013. Modeled on the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference, this program will be geared toward aspiring and practicing writers. You’ll participate in creative writing workshops with and attend readings given by visiting faculty, including Eileen Pollack, the former director of the University of Michigan MFA program and winner of the 2008 Edward Lewis Wallant Award. In morning sessions, participants will read classics of modern Jewish literature, from Sholem Aleichem to Grace Paley, with literary scholar Josh Lambert (UMass Amherst), and discuss the roles played by Jews in the creation of literary modernism and postmodernism. You’ll also have opportunities to write in a pastoral setting, meet a visiting agent or editor or two, and visit a writer’s home.

    Apply by January 13, 2013. (“Who can apply? North American Jews between the ages of 20 and 30, creative people curious about the connections between Jewishness and modern culture.”)

    Best of all: This is one of THREE free programs.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish literary news from around the Web.

  • Let’s start with a stupendous-looking opportunity from the Posen Foundation: “The Posen Foundation is proud to announce a unique international fellowship for junior scholars and emerging fiction writers. Each member of the Posen Society of Fellows receives a two-year, $40,000 award, as well as a special opportunity to collaborate with peers and learn from seasoned scholars and writers.” Eligibility: “Eligible scholars should be completing a doctoral dissertation on a topic related to modern Jewish history of culture. Eligible fiction writers should be working on a Jewish-themed novel or short story collection, and should not yet have published their first book.” Application deadline is January 15, 2013, and there’s no application fee. (Thanks to @NaomiDanis for the tip about this amazing program.)
  • Another new opportunity for writers: “Jewish Currents magazine announces its the first annual DORA and ALEXANDER RAYNES POETRY PRIZE for poems on the theme of ‘The American Dream.'” There *is* an entry fee for this competition ($18). Prizes include a cash award of $1,000 to the first-prize winner and $180 to each of two runners-up. “The top 36 poems will be published as a chapbook by Blue Thread, an imprint of Jewish Currents, in the summer of 2013. All submissions will be considered for publication in Jewish Currents. Submission deadline is January 15, 2013. NB: This competition will be judged by Gerald Stern.
  • This week brought us the latest Jewish Book Carnival, ably hosted by the Jewish Book Council’s “ProsenPeople” blog.
  • In a new essay, author Jon Papernick explores the meaning of the tattoo on his arm, in his view and in others’.
  • And in case you missed it, over on my other blog I’ve written about a book that I had the privilege of reading before it was published this month: Susan Kushner Resnick’s You Saved Me, Too: What a Holocaust Survivor Taught Me About Living, Dying, Loving, Fighting, and Swearing in Yiddish.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    From My Bookshelf: THERE’S JEWS IN TEXAS? Poems by Debra L. Winegarten

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    So here’s a tribute to the power of social media and technology.

    In addition to participating in the monthly Jewish Book Carnival, I’m a member of the Carnival’s group on Goodreads. The Carnival isn’t intended for authors to promote their own books–the idea is to provide a forum for readers to share news, reviews, and/or interviews featuring (other) authors and books of Jewish interest.

    But last week, our moderator created a new thread in the Goodreads group where authors can promote their own books. And when I scanned that thread, I noticed Debra L. Winegarten’s post about her poetry chapbook, There’s Jews in Texas?

    There’s Jews in Texas? won Poetica Magazine’s 2011 Chapbook Contest. It comprises 13 poems, the first several of which are situated in childhood and evidently reflect aspects of Winegarten’s upbringing in Texas in the 1960s (see a sample poem on the author’s website). Winegarten’s mother is a lively voice in these early poems. Even after Ruthe Winegarten’s passing (midway through the collection, “The Three R’s” discloses that she died the same week as Ronald Reagan and Ray Charles), she remains present as the book moves forward in time. (And move forward it does: “The Price of a World,” is a response to the March 2011 massacre of the Fogel family.)

    In her Goodreads post, the author helpfully noted that the book is available to Amazon Prime members as part of the Kindle Lending Library; that is how I obtained and read it (another thumbs-up for technology). The poems in There’s Jews in Texas? are both accessible and provocative, and I’m glad to have discovered and read them.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish literary news from around the Web.

  • First up: This week’s New Yorker features a new story by Lara Vapnyar, “Fischer vs. Spassky.” Bonus: Deborah Treisman’s Q&A with Vapnyar about the story.
  • Next: Nina Badzin reviews a new anthology titled Living Jewishly: A Snapshot of a Generation.
  • I learned about the life and work of poet Naomi Replansky this week thanks to Benjamin Ivry’s coverage for The Forward.
  • “On October 16, Leo Baeck Institute will unveil DigiBaeck – a comprehensive digital version of its collections to be made available to all for free online. DigiBaeck encompasses more than 3.5 million pages of documents from German-Jewish history.” Attend the launch (or watch streaming video online).
  • Writing a Jewish-themed YA novel? “In honor of Jewish Book Month, The Whole Megillah is hosting its second annual Write Your Own Megillah event. Think of it as the Jewish equivalent of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). From November 7 through December 7, 2012, you’ll have the opportunity to write the novel you’ve always wanted to write.”

    • Shabbat shalom.