Jewish Book Council

“Moumie,” I asked her. “What’s the difference between Ashkenazi...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:07:33 -0400

“Moumie,” I asked her. “What’s the difference between Ashkenazi and Sephardic?”

“Ah,” she replied, with a sage nod, as though she had been waiting for this one. Her expression, as it often did, drifted into an elegant reverie. “In the Rue Rembrandt, our housekeeper was Ashkenazi.”

http://bit.ly/11nyQFj

New Vessel Press, an independent publishing house founded in NYC...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:45:13 -0400

New Vessel Press, an independent publishing house founded in NYC last year, is about to release their first six titles. Specializing in the translation of foreign literature into English, one of their first books is Some Day by Israeli novelist, film director, and screenwriter Shemi Zarhin. The work, translated by Yardenne Greenspan, will be published this fall.

"It’s my firm belief and my personal experience that patterns run through families faster than we can..."

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:06:22 -0400

“It’s my firm belief and my personal experience that patterns run through families faster than we can usually stop them, which is why we need both spiritual practice and literature – so that a wisdom greater than our own can escort us, lovingly, to awareness and eventually, to change.”

- Kathy Ebel, Nice Jewish Girls Finish Whole

Patricia Volk’s Shocked does what only the best memoirs do: It...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:44:35 -0400

Patricia Volk’s Shocked does what only the best memoirs do: It prompts us to examine our own lives. In Shocked, Volk questions what it means to be a woman. Read more.

Fans of Marjorie Morningstar, Sheila Levine, Isadora Wing, and...

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:18:00 -0400

Fans of Marjorie Morningstar, Sheila Levine, Isadora Wing, and Jane Rosenal…meet Claudia Silver:

Kathy Ebel on Nice Jewish Girl protagonists from New York City

Today on the Visiting Scribe, Royal Young on his father, artist...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:31:52 -0400

Today on the Visiting Scribe, Royal Young on his father, artist Lee Brozgold.

Lesley Simpson is the author of A Song for My Sister (Random...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:11:15 -0400

Lesley Simpson is the author of A Song for My Sister (Random House), a lovely picture book about simchat bat, the Jewish baby naming ritual. Lesley takes young readers on a humor filled journey as older sister Mira adapts to her new, very noisy baby sister! The charming illustrations by Tatjana Mai-Wyss are a perfect pairing for the lively story. Read an interview with Lesley Simpson here.

How did Hazak Brozgold become Royal Young? Find out here in...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:48:06 -0400

How did Hazak Brozgold become Royal Young? Find out here in “From Shtetl to Star: A Jewish Tradition of Changing Names.”

eretzyisrael: Today is Anne Frank’s birthday – she would have...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:46:22 -0400

eretzyisrael:

Today is Anne Frank’s birthday – she would have been 84.

Royal Young talks to his grandparents about their first meeting,...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:15:00 -0400

Royal Young talks to his grandparents about their first meeting, performance as love, competition, what art means to them and the perils as well as pleasures of celebrity over on the Visiting Scribe.

"It was a vicious Freudian cycle, a problem only a Jewish boy raised on the Lower East Side by two..."

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 07:27:52 -0400

“It was a vicious Freudian cycle, a problem only a Jewish boy raised on the Lower East Side by two mental health professionals in the early ’90s could have.”

- Royal Young, “My Family’s Reaction to Fame Shark”

North America’s First Jewish Poetry Retreat! At KlezKanada...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:16:00 -0400

North America’s First Jewish Poetry Retreat!

At KlezKanada Festival of Jewish Arts and Culture

Aug 19-25, 2013

Led by poets Adeena Karasick and Jake Marmer

More info: http://bit.ly/kktabpr1

or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KlezKanadaPoetry

“The comparisons Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home has...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:31:00 -0400

“The comparisons Deborah Levy’s Swimming Home has received to Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway are with merit.” - Phil Sandick

"I had no idea [that books] were written by real people, who sat at real desks and typed them out on..."

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:59:00 -0400

“I had no idea [that books] were written by real people, who sat at real desks and typed them out on real typewriters…”

- David Samuel Levinson

The distinguished novelist William H. Gass’s latest novel,...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:14:12 -0400

The distinguished novelist William H. Gass’s latest novel, Middle C, tells the story of Joseph Skizzen, born in Graz, Austria, following the Anschluss in 1938. His father, Rudi, decides to leave the country because of his hatred of the Nazis in general and Hitler specifically. Reasoning that by disguising themselves as Jews they would stand a better chance of emigrating from Austria, Rudi Skizzen renames his family Fixel…continue reading

Trouble with marriage? having kids? aging? Folktales...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:12:38 -0400

Trouble with marriage? having kids? aging? Folktales aren’t just for children! Sharon Elswit on why folktales still matter:

http://bit.ly/15OndaA

What’s your favorite Jewish folktale?

David Samuel Levinson on the beautiful catastrophe that is New...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:31:00 -0400

David Samuel Levinson on the beautiful catastrophe that is New York City

D. A. Mishani and the Mystery of the Hebrew Detective

Tue, 28 May 2013 16:02:40 -0400

D. A. Mishani and the Mystery of the Hebrew Detective

Part One of actress, author, and activist Annabelle...

Tue, 28 May 2013 14:51:26 -0400

Part One of actress, author, and activist Annabelle Gurwitch’s “When 50 Happens to Good People”

Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend: Jewish Book...

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:07:15 -0400

Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend: Jewish Book Council’s 2013 Summer Reads