October 2024 Jewish Book Carnival

 

 

 

October 2024 Jewish Book Carnival

 

I'm pleased to be hosting this month's Jewish Book Carnival. We have a lot to talk about, so let's get started...

***

The Book of Life Podcast features a two-part series, "Festive Friends." Both episodes feature pairs of author friends, talking about their books that are perfect for the fall Jewish holidays. 

 

Part I: Gayle Forman (Not Nothing) and Marjorie Ingall (Getting to Sorry) talk about the themes in their books of teshuvah, growth, and the art of apology, just right for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

 

Part II: Erica Lyons and Christina Matula, co-authors, discuss their picture book Mixed-Up Mooncakes, about a Chinese Jewish family celebrating Sukkot and Mid-Autumn Festival.

 

Find both parts on the Association of Jewish Libraries blog at https://jewishlibraries.org/festive-friends-series-on-the-book-of-life-podcast/

***

Multicultural Kid Blogs is hosting a Jewish Joy series of interviews with diverse Jewish authors. The first interview is with Ruth Behar, Latina Cuban Sephardic Ashkenazi Jewish author of Across So Many Seas. 

https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/2024/09/09/jewish-joy-with-ruth-behar/

 ***

This month Gila Green speaks to author Ann Koffsky about her latest children's book, marketing Jewish books post-October 7, and contemporary American Jewish society.  

***

Zibby Books is publishing a new book, On Being Jewish Now: Reflections from Authors and Advocates, edited by Zibby Owens. The publisher describes it as “An intimate collection of meaningful, smart, funny, sad, emotional, and inspiring essays from today’s authors and advocates about what it means to be Jewish, how things have changed since the attacks on October 7th, 2023, and the unique culture that brings this group together.” https://zibbymedia.com/blogs/our-books/on-being-jewish-now?srsltid=AfmBOooPZmyT1sfecjX8aBo5wd4feVwLJphWbapiBGXslQSCZGqYSwy6 

***

Life Is Like a Library encounters some of The Heroes of October 7th, through a recently released English translation of a Hebrew book published in April 2024: https://lifelibrary-ksp.blogspot.com/2024/10/heroes-of-october-7th.html

***

In this episode of "What If? Why Not? How?" Sally Wiener Grotta chats with fellow author Alex Shvartsman about his latest book, Dreidel of Dread: The Very Cthulhu Hannukah. A beautifully illustrated board book, Dreidel of Dread is filled with wry humor and social commentary that will delight adults as well as children. SallyWienerGrotta.com/2024/08/02/dreidel-of-dread-the-very-cthulu-hannukah-a-chat-with-author-alex-shvartsman/ 

***

Talia Carner’s essay “Flaunting My Star of David” was excerpted in full in Dan's Papers from the anthology On Being Jewish Now by Zibby Media. It describes her battle against anti-Semitism in the publishing world. https://www.danspapers.com/2024/10/author-talia-carner-antisemitic-attack/

***

At Jewish Books for Kids and More, Barbara Bietz interviews Dr. Edith Eva Eger about The Ballerina of Auschwitz, a YA edition of her award-winning memoir The Choice: Embrace the Possible. Dr. Eger is a well-known psychologist, speaker, and author. In her career, she has focused on helping people deal with trauma and has been praised worldwide for her contributions. Jewish Books for Kids

***

On her My Machberet blog, Erika Dreifus routinely compiles news of Jewish literary interest. Here's one recent post.

***

Jonathan Sapir focuses on a celebration of Jewish achievements in America on his blog. https://www.jewishachievements.com/blog

***

And here on my blog, I interviewed Samantha Greene Woodruff about her new novel, The Trade Off.

 

Thanks so much to all the participants!

--Deborah