As 2024 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on a year filled with essays on grief and community (some from our Witnessing series), new stories on histories long-buried, and the power of literature in our fractured world. Below are the ten pieces on PB Daily that you read the most this past year. (Check out the “Ten Most-Read Reviews of 2024.”)
“Bringing the Kurc Family to the Screen: A Conversation with Georgia Hunter” by Simona Zaretsky
“How to Pray for Hostages” by Ruth Ebenstein
“A Letter from a Stranger Revealed a Family Secret Kept from Me” by Karen Kirsten
“‘It’s Best to Cancel’: Resilient Listening and Our Kids Today” by Adam Gidwitz
“‘A Shared History’: Returning to My Mother’s Roots” by Caroline Leavitt
“The October 7th Haggadah” by Vivian Cohen-Leisorek
“Hollywood, Heroines, and the Holocaust” by Lisa Barr
“We Are No Longer Welcome” by Yardenne Greenspan
“Love and Survival in Auschwitz” by Keren Blankfeld
Simona is the Jewish Book Council’s managing editor of digital content and marketing. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in English and History and studied abroad in India and England. Prior to the JBC she worked at Oxford University Press. Her writing has been featured in Lilith, The Normal School, Digging through the Fat, and other publications. She holds an MFA in fiction from The New School.