Global Jewish Literary Alliance
The Global Jewish Literary Alliance is an international collaboration that provides resources and community for Jewish writers, and those writing books of Jewish interest. The Global Jewish Literary Alliance aims to encourage more writers to write Jewish content and explore what that might be, as well as provide annually updated resources to connect professionals and writers and create community. The Global Jewish Literary Resource Center will also provide information on funding opportunities, residences, and events for the Jewish writing community.
The Alliance aims to support a global ecosystem of Jewish arts and culture, with a specific focus on the literary arts, ensuring writers have the resources they need to write Jewish books, that readers are aware of these works, and that Jewish communities and institutions have the resources they need to create meaningful programs and events around Jewish literature. The Covid pandemic showed the benefits of connecting with people around the world and showed the possibilities of trans-Atlantic collaborations, something upon which the Global Jewish Literary Alliance will expand.
The founding members of the GJLA are The Wingate Prize (UK), Jewish Book Council (US), JCC Association of North America (US and Canada) and JW3 (UK). Other international organizations will be invited to join as members in the future.
This Resource Center is built from submissions around the world, so if you know of any resources for the Jewish writing community and would like them included in our Resource Center, please submit them here!
Global Jewish Literary Alliance Resource Center
Awards/Contests/Programs
Inaugurated in 1950, the National Jewish Book Awards is the longest-running North American awards program of its kind and is recognized as the most prestigious. The Awards are intended to recognize authors, and encourage reading, of outstanding English-language books of Jewish interest. Awards are presented in over eighteen categories, and the winning authors are celebrated at an annual gala in the year following the publication of the books under consideration. Past notable winners include Chaim Grade, Deborah Lipstadt, Bernard Malamud, Michael Oren, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Elie Wiesel, Jonathan Safran Foer, Deborah Dash Moore, and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.
The Wingate Prize is a literary award, and is given to the best book, fiction or non-fiction, to translate the idea of Jewishness to the general reader. The Prize was started in 1977, and is run in association with JW3, the Jewish Cultural Centre. The winner receives £4000. Previous winners include David Grossman, Anne Michaels, WG Sebald, Zadie Smith, and Nicole Krauss.
Canadian Jewish Literary Awards
The Canadian Jewish Literary Awards invites you to submit any books in English, French or Yiddish, on a Jewish theme or topic. The Awards recognize the outstanding achievements of the winning authors with significant cash prizes and public recognition. For more information see the Submission Criteria and the Award Categories below or contact Edward Trapunski, Chair info@cjlawards.ca.
Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition
The Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition. $1,000 cash prize and a professional workshop with public reading for the winner. Playwrights do not need to be Jewish but the play must include Jewish content. For more information https://www.mnjcc.org/theatre. Playwrights must be Canadian. Plays must be in English. Originally a program run by an independent group of dedicated volunteers, The Toronto Jewish Theatre Committee, the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition was founded in 1989 and operated out of the Bathurst JCC in North Toronto. In 1999, the MNjcc adopted this program and ran it with a group of jurors from the professional theatre community. Before 2006 there was an average of six plays submitted each year. With more publicity and exposure, up to 20 plays are submitted from six Canadian provinces, the United States and Israel each contest year. The competition is now a bi-annual program.Call for submissions is now open. Deadline September 5, 2023. Click here for eligibility and guidelines.
Genesis Jewish Book Week Emerging Writers’ Programme (UK)
Applications for the 2023 – 2024 Emerging Writers Programme are now open.
The Programme offers 10 bursaries of up to £1,500 each and a year of peer support along with seminars and one-on-one mentoring from some of the leading names in Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry.
Applications are invited from writers of any background, who are over 18 and resident in the United Kingdom. Click the link above to read full entry requirements and to apply.
About the Genesis Foundation:The Genesis Foundation was founded by John Studzinski CBE in 2001. Over the past 20 years the Foundation has donated more than £20million to the arts. Through its funding and partnership model, it has enabled opportunities for thousands of young artists in theatre and music, building both their experience and their resilience. Its main focus is on partnerships with leading arts organisations such as the Young Vic, National Theatre, Almeida Theatre, LAMDA and The Sixteen, and on training programmes that equip emerging artists for life as a creative professional.
This contest just closed, but the winner will be published on Hey Alma this spring and awarded a $250 honorarium (and a Hey Alma sweatshirt for good measure). Submissions were open until May 1, 2023. The guidelines: Stories should be 3,000 words or less, and must be previously unpublished. They will only accept one story per submitter. More information at the link.
Jewish Children’s Book Awards 2022/23 (Europe and UK)
Green Bean Books and Jewish Book Week (UK) are delighted to announce the criteria for the second Jewish Children’s Book Awards. The awards will again be judged by Green Bean publisher Michael Leventhal; author and chair of the book selection committee of PJ Library Chris Barash; director of the Children’s and YA department at Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir Yael Molchadsky; and translator and author Lawrence Schimel. We are very pleased that this year, award-winning author Eric Kimmel will also join the panel. The Jewish Children’s Book Awards for story and illustration aim to celebrate the work of talented Jewish children’s book authors and illustrators living in Europe and the UK. Click the link to read the award criteria and submission guidelines!
Lilith’s Annual Fiction Contest
Gifted fiction writers! Lilith magazine — independent, Jewish & frankly feminist — seeks quality short stories with heart, soul and chutzpah, 3,000 words or under, for our Annual Fiction Contest. First prize: $300 and publication. We especially like fresh fiction with feminist and Jewish nuance, and are eager to read submissions from writers of color and emerging writers of any age.
Natan Notable Books is a twice-yearly award for nonfiction books on Jewish themes. Natan Notable Books highlights vital books and authors, and brings innovative and important ideas to the attention of diverse audiences. Around Passover and the Jewish High Holidays, Natan selects a“Natan Notable Book,” a recently-published or about-to-be published non-fiction title that will catalyze conversations aligned with the themes of Natan’s grantmaking: reinventing Jewish life and community for the twenty-first century, shifting notions of individual and collective Jewish identity, the history and future of Israel, and the evolving relationship between Israel and world Jewry. Natan Notable Book winners receive a Natan Notable Book seal and $5,000 for the author, marketing/distribution coaching and promotion from Jewish Book Council and Natan, and customized support designed to bring the book and/or the author to new audiences. The Natan Notable Books Committee is made up of Natan members and partners who select the winner, and nominate books for consideration. Publishers and authors can also submit books for consideration.
National Jewish Playwriting Contest
The Jewish Playwriting Contest seeks to discover, highlight, and nurture contemporary Jewish drama by engaging with artistic and Jewish communities throughout the English-speaking world. The Contest has received and vetted over 1,800 plays by 1,000 writers in 34 states and 10 countries. The JPP has actively developed 55 of those plays, 36 of which have gone on to production in cities across the globe, including New York, Los Angeles, London, and Tel Aviv, playing for more than 100,000 audience members.
Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest
The Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest encourages writers to submit stories related to Judaism or Jewish culture or history. Established in 2000, this contest has brought in distinguished judges and special guests including Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Pinsky, Walter Mosley, Nicole Krauss, Erica Jong, Jonathan Safran Foer, Geraldine Brooks, Andre Aciman and Dara Horn.
PJ Library Author and Illustrator Stewardship: Become a PJ Library Author or Illustrator
Webpage including opportunities for authors, author-illustrators, graphic novelists, agents, and publishers who have Jewish children’s stories to share: Sign-Up for the PJ Library Author Newsletter here!
Websites / Resources
Each year the Artwork Archive team goes on a mission to find the best art opportunities, grants, and calls-for-entry for the upcoming year. Below you will find a list of the top artist residencies, international open calls, artist grants, exhibition opportunities and art competitions that we believe will benefit artists in 2023!
The “College Commons” podcast features passionate perspectives from Judaism’s leading thinkers and is produced by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion. Authors can email: collegecommons@huc.edu to pitch themselves and their books. For more info about the podcast, visit: https://collegecommons.huc.edu/hucconnectpodcast/.
Erika Dreifus’s Resources for Jewish Writing
Author, professor, and Jewish literary advocate Erika Dreifus has curated a set of resources for Jewish writing and writers on her website: https://www.erikadreifus.com/resources/jewish-writing/ Among these is the My Machberet blog, where she routinely aggregates Jewish literary news and opportunities.
The JBC Network — with roughly 130 member organizations across North America, including JCCs, synagogues, Hillels, Jewish Federations, and cultural centers —provides over 250 authors a platform for sharing their books each year.
JBC Network arranges nearly 1,400 programs, both virtually and in-person, for our member sites, including special family programming with children’s book authors around many holidays or topics. Additionally, Jewish Book Council holds a conference for JBC Network member sites and authors. The event includes the chance to hear a two-minute pitch from each participating author, as well as workshops for member sites on running successful book events. Following the event, JBC Network sites make author event requests and Jewish Book Council coordinates scheduling. Jewish Book Council coaches authors for their pitches and provides book program consultation for member sites throughout the year.
Author’s inclusion in the program does not imply endorsement by Jewish Book Council. Please click the link for more details about membership for both event coordinators and authors/publishers, including pricing.
Jewish Book Week is London’s longest-running literary festival, having taken place annually since 1952. Each year it brings speakers from around the world – covering art, fiction, history, music, philosophy, poetry, politics, science and more – for a celebration of ideas The festival features Jewish themes and writers, as well as discussions on the most important issues of the day, and is open to everyone. Over 80 events are presented in-person and online during the nine days of festival itself. A number of special events are also organised over the course of the year, as well as a range of writing programmes and awards. Jewish Book Week is organised by the Jewish Book Council, a registered UK charity. Click the link above for more information!
Jewish Book Month has been celebrated with rich and nuanced activities and events every year, the month before Hannukah. Click the link for a peek at what’s been done, or write us a note at info@jewishbooks.org — we’d love to hear and see what your community has done to celebrate Jewish literature throughout the years!
Jewish Books for Kids and More promotes Jewish literature through interviews with authors, illustrators, editors, and more. It is a resource for readers, writers, parents, teachers, and librarians. There are more than 15 years of archived interviews available. JewishBooksforKids.com
Jewish Fiction .net is the only English-language journal, either in print or online, devoted exclusively to Jewish fiction. We showcase the finest contemporary writing on Jewish themes (either written in, or translated into, English). In our first thirteen years, we have published over 550 stories or novel excerpts, originally written in 20 languages: Albanian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Turkish, and Yiddish. Jewish Fiction.net is truly an international journal and we have readers in 140 countries.
We are honoured to have published fiction by such eminent writers as Elie Wiesel, Aharon Appelfeld, Nava Semel, A.B. Yehoshua, Natan Zach, Amir Gutfreund, Chava Rosenfarb, Gabriel Josipovici, Savyon Liebrecht, George Jonas, Yente Serdatsky, and Yoram Kaniuk, as well as many fine writers not yet well-known. We welcome submissions from all writers, new and established, and consider thoughtfully every submission we receive. (See our website’s Submissions page for more details.)
A Facebook community for those interested in Jewish children’s literature. Jewish Kidlit Mavens is an online community for writers, publishers, librarians, educators, and others interested in Jewish children’s literature. This active Facebook group has over 1300 members and growing. Jewish Kidlit Mavens is administered by Heidi Rabinowitz and Susan Kusel.
Media Pitch Kit for Jewish Children’s & YA Books
This is a media pitch kit specifically geared towards Jewish literature for children and young adults. Publicists and authors can consult this kit to learn where to market new Judaic titles.
For more information about programs and event at the Jewish Museum of Austrailia, click the link above!
Jewish Public Library of Montreal
The Jewish Public Library (“JPL”) in Montreal, Quebec supports literacy, education and the well-being of our diverse communities. Through its Main Library, children’s, young adult collections, and its programmes, the JPL provides access to information and knowledge, literature and Judaica, both in person and virtually. Through its Archives, it sustains, protects, and enables research about the Montreal Jewish Communities’ historical and cultural heritages. Founded in 1915, the JPL contains the largest circulating collection of Judaica in North America.
Jewish Writer’s Conference with Jewish Book Council
Have you written a book that you’d like to have published? Do you have a story idea? Have you already been published and would like to network with others in your field? The Jewish Writers’ Conference is an annual event at the end of the year, which brings together agents, editors, and authors for discussions, workshops, and panels discussing Jewish book publishing and writing. This conference combines Jewish Book Council’s annual Jewish Children’s Writers Seminar and our Jewish Adult Writer’s Seminar. More information will be coming in July, but you can click the link to see what the 2022 Jewish Writer’s Conference looked like!
JFest StoryMachine is part of JFest, a Signature program of JCC Association of North America, developed to encourage the sharing of stories to deepen connection and help build resilience in our communities. Inspired by Rube Goldberg’s life and legacy, the JFest StoryMachine travels from A‑Z, capturing important pieces of our own unexpected journeys. Built as a limited-time, interactive, digital online experience, JFest StoryMachine has helped us collect voices from our diverse Jewish communities, gathering them into our community anthology, Stories of Home, for all to enjoy. “Story of Home.” The Project director/curator is Randy Ellen Lutterman, Vice President, Development and Arts & Culture at JCC Association of North America r.lutterman@jcca.org. Additional information about this project can be found here: https://www.jfeststorymachine.org/about
The dowloadable “flipbook” can be shared with communities to spark community conversation, story-sharing, writing prompts, holiday engagement, and much more!
Highlights Foundation Workshops
The Highlights FOundation offers Intimate and inspiring workshops for children’s authors and illustrators.
Every month I interview a Jewish author/illustrator/editor and post it to Jewish Book Carnival. Authors should contact me through my site. I also accept blog posts.
Pen American U.S. Writers Aid Initiative
PEN America is an organization of writers and their allies, and that solidarity is never more important than when members of the literary community face crises. Writing can be a solitary, economically fragile undertaking made even more precarious by unemployment, financial downturns, health problems, and other challenges. PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative, part of the PEN America Writers Emergency Fund, offers grants for writers in the United States facing acute financial need following an emergency situation. Click the link more information and to view full eligibility guidelines.
Poets & Writer’s Literary Magazine Database
Find a home for your poems, stories, essays, and reviews by researching the publications vetted by theireditorial staff and listed in the Literary Magazines database. You’ll find editorial policies, submission guidelines, and contact information — everything you need to determine which publications match your vision for your writing and your writing life.
My Jewish Learning / The Hub
The Hub from My Jewish learning is a space to find online Jewish classes and events. Find an upcoming event hosted by Jewish organizations across the world, or explore our on-demand section to view recordings of past events.
The Sydney Taylor Shmooze is a mock award blog for the Sydney Taylor Book Award. A team of volunteers reviews children’s books with Jewish content. Authors and publishers are invited to submit digital review copies. Mock book awards are selected by popular vote each January, in the weeks before the announcement of the real Sydney Taylor Book Award winners.
The Digital Collection at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Browse through selections from the thousands of records in the Museum’s Collections in this curated list of frequently searched collection types and themes.
Yetzirah: A Hearth for Jewish Poetry
Yetzirah is a nonprofit literary organization dedicated to fostering and supporting a community space for Jewish poets, nourishing writers and readers of Jewish poetry now and for generations to come. Our initial offerings: An online annual reading series An annual summer conference in Asheville, NC (our inaugural faculty are Rodger Kamenetz, Ilya Kaminsky, and Alicia Ostriker) The Discover Jewish Poets database for use by poets, scholars, teachers, event programmers, and interested readers, searchable by demographic classifications, subject matter, and genre A resource page of relevant publishing opportunities, literary organizations, educational opportunities, and cultural programming, including Jewish Book Festivals A community bulletin board for Jewish poets interested in meeting other writers with whom to share work in-person or online. ”
The Yiddish Book Center is dedicated to recover, celebrate, and regenerate Yiddish and modern Jewish literature and culture. More than 11,000 titles are available online and for free in our Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library. The comprehensive collection includes works of fiction, memoirs, poetry, plays, short stories, science manuals, cookbooks, primers, and more, by the most renowned Yiddish authors and lesser-known writers alike. These books and the various articles, programs, podcasts on our website are an invaluable source of inspiration for writers.
Yiddish Writer — Poet of Whitechapel — Berlin Bohemian EXHIBITION | READING | RADIO DOCUMENTARY | FILM Else Lasker-Schüler called him “Hamid,” Arnold Zweig wrote a foreword for him, and Thomas Mann praised his poetry: Avrom Nokhem Stencl, a Berliner from 1921 to 1936, was one of the most acclaimed modern Yiddish poets in Weimar-era Germany, and he laid the foundations of his multifaceted and prolific poetic work in Berlin. Together with writer and artist Rachel Lichtenstein, the Manchester Writing School, and the Manchester Poetry Library, Yiddish.Berlin is setting the stage for an almost forgotten Berliner.
7 April 2023, 8 pm: Exhibition opening with a film screening about Stencl and in conversation with Rachel Lichtenstein, 8 April 2023, 8pm: Yiddish.Berlin reads Avrom Nokhem Stencl, 9 April 2023, 4 pm: Reading circle (leyenkrayz) open to the public, 11 April 2023, 7 pm: “Third Seder,” Shmues un Vayn style (for Yiddish speakers), 8 to 12 April 2023, open daily from 4 to 6 pm, at the events, and by request Galerie ZeitZone Adalbertstrasse 79 10997 Berlin
Jewish Publications
Questions? Feedback?
If you have any questions, or would like to send in any feedback about the Global Jewish Literary Alliance Resource Center, please email Evie Saphire-Bernstein at evie@jewishbooks.org.
