Welcome to the February Jewish Book Blog Carnival! Visit the headquarters of the Jewish Book Carnival, a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read and comment on each others’ posts.
Following, in more or less alphabetical order, are this month’s blog links. (Note that cover images link to the relevant book page on Amazon).
Enjoy!
Nat Bernstein at the JewishBook Council quotes author Gavriel Savit:
“It’s interesting how when you write a story that’s centered around a young woman, it gets received as being on the more juvenile side, and that’s an unfortunate reality of the way we think of women’s narratives in the world right now. But I think we are very fortunate that what has traditionally been considered generic fiction—speculative, detective, children’s—is falling by the wayside. Young adult narratives are en vogue. There’s no shame in reading a book we enjoy.” The author of New York Times bestseller Anna and the Swallow Man shares his thoughts on YA literature, the velvety mind of Borges, Holocaust fatigue, and the beauty of uncertainty in Jewish Book Council’s Emerging Voices Interview with Gavriel Savit on The ProsenPeople.
Beginning this February, Jewish Book Council presents the second season of Unpackingthe Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation, a free three-part series of discussions with authors at the forefront of contemporary Jewish literature. The program includes private after-hours admission to The Jewish Museum with optional guided tours of special exhibits, wine, refreshments, and book signings. Sign up for free admission, or join the JBC Circle membership program to receive copies of the books in the series, exclusive access to the authors, and a gift of Jewish Book Council annual print journal.
On The Book of Life Podcast, Heidi Estrin interviews Laura Gehl about Hare And Tortoise Race Across Israel. This post celebrates Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
http://www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2016/01/hare-and-tortoise-race-across-israel.html
The Association of Jewish Libraries announces its annual Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour, on People of the Books. Visit each hosting blog to read the interviews with winning authors and illustrators.
http://jewishlibraries.org/blog.php?id=321
Howard Freedman of “Off the Shelf”, a weekly column on Jewish books writes about “Two unconventional new books that bring to life significant moments in the European past”.
The Fig Tree Books blog offers a resource post for those seeking Jewish-writing classes, conferences, and workshops. “Where are the Jewish writing classes?” you ask. Well, here’s a very good list to get you started.
On My Machberet, Erika Dreifus looks back on “My Year in Jewish Books.”
Freelance writer and editor Deborah Kalb interviews a wide variety of authors on her website, BookQ&As with Deborah Kalb. Here’s her interview with Ruchama King Feuerman about Feuerman’s new children’s book, The Mountain Jews and the Mirror.
Karen Kirsten wrote an essay published on Narratively about a baby born in the Warsaw Ghetto, smuggled out and rescued by an SS officer. This well-written essay is soon to be turned into a book!
Barbara Krasner and The Whole Megillah interview Kathy Kacer, author of the 2016 Sydney Taylor Honor Book, Stones on a Grave.
Batya Medad reviewed Elliot Jager’s book on the Me-Ander blog:http://me-ander.blogspot.co.il/2016/01/the-pater-book-review.html
“In The Pater, writer and journalist Elliot Jager tackles what has until now been an almost taboo subject: what it feels like to be a childless Jewish man…” Batya writes, “[I]n his book, Jager tells more than his own story. He searched for and interviewed other Jewish men who never had children.”
‘Lorri M. Writings’ reviews Alice Hoffman’s Marriage of Opposites.
“The story line illuminated existentialism,” she writes, “in the sense that we are individuals responsible for our own development, and responsible for achieving our authenticity. We are all human, and within that concept, we are responsible for each other in the end, no matter a person’s background, religious, cultural, or otherwise.”
And last but not least…
I’ve been out of the writing loop for a few weeks, as I deal with plenty of creative projects for other folks. I’ve been illustrating, doing book design and layout, and web-coding. But I haven’t been totally out of the literary scene; here’s my review of In the Shadow of God, a poetry collection exploring “silent sounds and shadows”—a legacy inherited by children of the post Holocaust era.
