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Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

by Erika Dreifus on
2

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

  • One of this week’s favorite reads: Roz Chast’s “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” in The New Yorker.
  • Just in time for Purim, Rebecca Klempner shares some literary lessons from the Book of Esther.
  • Superb profile of Molly Antopol by Sandee Brawarsky for The Jewish Week. (I’ve finally bought Antopol’s The UnAmericans–now I just need to find the time to read it!)
  • From the same source that brought us the PJ Library: “The Massachusetts-based Harold Grinspoon Foundation recently launched Maktabat al-Fanoos, Arabic for Lantern Library, which provides Arabic children’s books to Arab Israeli children in kindergarten and pre-K.”
  • I’m unfortunately not likely to make it to this event, but if you’re in New York, you may want to try to attend “Making it New: Contemporary Novelists and the Jewish Literary Tradition,” a program that will feature Jonathan Rosen, Tova Mirvis, and Josh Lambert ($10 admission fee).

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    5

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • For those of you in Israel: Check out this mini-conference on literary translation coming up at Bar Ilan University. (An email announcement that I received assures: “The conference is in English and is free of charge.”)
  • Reading through the January 2014 edition of the Generations of the Shoah International (GSI) newsletter this week, I realized that I might not yet have recommended this monthly e-publication for anyone wanting to follow events and publications relating to Holocaust commemoration and study. Or it has been a long time since I’ve done so.
  • On my tbr list: Claudia Roth Pierpont’s Roth Unbound. Especially after D.G. Myers’s review.
  • An intriguing post from Theater J, including student reflections on Motti Lerner’s play “The Admission.”
  • And in case you missed it: an all-too-brief preview of notable “Jewish books” coming in 2014.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    Wednesday’s WIP: Last 2013 Article Looks Ahead to 2014

    by Erika Dreifus on
    Disabled

    Published Monday:

    At this time of year, I’m confronted with the many books published in 2013 that I haven’t yet managed to read. It seems that every day another “best-of” list materializes to remind me of the recurrent truth: There’s just never enough time to get to all of the books that I’d like to read, not even if I limited myself to books of Jewish interest, or to novels and short-story collections. And yet, as we approach the new year, publishers’ 2014 catalogs promise a new array of tempting titles. Here are just five of the notable “Jewish books” that I’m already anticipating.

    Read the rest of this article on The Forward‘s “Arty Semite” blog. And happy new year!

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    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen

    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • The Association for Jewish Studies annual conference begins on Sunday, December 15. I’ll be following along via the Twitter hashtag #AJS13.
  • My thanks to Zackary Sholem Berger for this introduction to the poetry of Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, on The Forward‘s Arty Semite blog.
  • This week I’m reading Jason K. Friedman’s prize-winning short-story collection Fire Year, described by Publishers Weekly as “seven funny, fearless outsiders’ tales set in Savannah and Atlanta—some depicting bygone orthodox Jewish communities, others the rife-with-irony ‘New South’.” The opening story, “Blue,” previously won the Moment-Karma Foundation fiction contest.
  • Must confess that I’m not satisfied with the conclusions drawn in “What is a Jewish Poem?” But the piece did add another essay to my tbr list.
  • “The YIVO Institute and Bard College are pleased to announce the third year of the Winter Program on Ashkenazi Civilization. This program, the first of its kind in the U.S., presents an integrated curriculum in the culture, history, language, and literature of East European Jews.” Courses offerings include “The Other Sholem Aleichem,” with Jonathan Brent; “New York Intellectuals Revisited,” with Adam Kirsch; “Jewish Literary Life in the Soviet Union,” with Gennady Estraikh; and more.

    • Shabbat shalom.

    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-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • The latest New Yorker fiction podcast features Amos Oz’s story “The King of Norway,” which became the opening story in Oz’s Between Friends. Jonathan Safran Foer reads the story and discusses it with New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman.
  • Great news from Lee Mandel about his latest project, a biography of the first Jewish chaplain ever assigned to the United States Marine Corps, Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn: “Tentatively titled ‘Unlikely Warrior’ and subtitled ‘A Pacifist Rabbi’s Journey from the Pulpit to the Sands of Iwo Jima,’ the book has been accepted for publication by Pelican Publishers and I signed the contracts last week. It will likely be out by this coming fall.” Mazal tov!
  • More good news: This week brought us a new issue of JewishFiction.Net, including works “originally written in Polish, French, Hebrew, and English, and set in China, Germany, Scotland, Poland, ancient Israel, modern Israel, the United States, and on an emigrants’ boat bound for the United States.”
  • Looking forward to reading Gary Shteyngart’s memoir Little Failure–especially after reading Harvey Freedenberg’s review.
  • “Tablet is hiring two paid, part-time spring editorial interns. If you have experience in journalism and are familiar with the landscape of American Jewish life, we’d love to hear from you.” Apply by December 12 for these New York-based positions.

    • Shabbat shalom.