Gal Beckerman, staff writer, joined the Forward in August 2009. He was previously an assistant editor at the Columbia Journalism Review where he wrote essays and media criticism. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Bookforum. Beckerman was also the New York bureau chief of the Jerusalem Post during the Lebanon War of 2006. He spent 2008 living in Berlin on an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. His history of the movement to free Jews from the Soviet Union during the Cold War will be published in the fall of 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Gal Beckerman can be reached at beckerman@forward.com.
Gabrielle Birkner joined the Forward as Web editor in December 2008. Previously, she worked at The New York Sun, where she was the features editor and, before that, a staff reporter. After graduating in 2001 from Northwestern University, she joined the staff of her hometown daily, The Stamford Advocate in Stamford, Conn. She went on to become a staff writer at The Jewish Week of New York. Her writing has appeared in More, Moment, Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post and Women’s Wear Daily, among other publications. Gabrielle Birkner can be reached at birkner@forward.com
Larry Cohler-Esses is assistant managing editor with responsibility for news coverage. He joined the staff in December 2008. Previously, he served as Editor-at-Large for the Jewish Week, an investigative reporter for the New York Daily News, and as a staff writer for the Jewish Week as well as the Washington Jewish Week. Larry has written extensively on the Arab-Jewish relations both in the United States and the Middle East. He received several Laurels Awards from the Columbia Journalism Review, and two New York Press Association awards. Larry Cohler-Esses can be reached at cohleresses@forward.com
Aram David has been the Webmaster for the Forward since the fall of 2005. He worked as a Web developer at JPMorgan Chase from 2003 to 2005 and owns his own Web development company. He is a graduate of Fordham University. Aram David can be reached at david@forward.com
Rebecca Dube joined the Forward as a staff writer in 2009. Originally from Baltimore, she started her career at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer before moving to Seattle, where she worked for The Associated Press as a reporter. Most recently she worked for The Globe and Mail of Toronto, Canada, where she was a copy editor, Web editor, feature writer and columnist. A graduate of Yale University, Rebecca has also written for USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, MSNBC.com and The New Zealand Herald. Rebecca Dube can be reached at dube@forward.com
Devra Ferst, editorial assistant, joined the Forward in January 2009, after working as the editorial assistant to the Jerusalem Report in Israel. Her writing has appeared in the Jerusalem Post, the Jerusalem Report and on Web sites such as uwishunu.com. She also serves as a contributing editor to the Jewish magazine Present Tense. She graduated from Barnard College in 2007, where she earned a degree in American Studies. Devra Ferst can be reached at ferst@forward.com
Dan Friedman is the arts and culture editor of the Forward. A founding editor of Zeek, Dan has a PhD in Comparative Literature from Yale and an MA in English Literature from Cambridge. He taught poetry, literature, and film at Cambridge and Yale. More recently he has headed the English departments at Schechter Regional and Yeshiva University high schools. As well as publishing various scholarly articles on film, poetry, and photography he is a qualified soccer coach and certified lifeguard. Dan writes fiction and poetry but is better known for his writing for “Da Ali G Show.” Dan Friedman can be reached at dfriedman@forward.com
Nathan Guttman staff writer, is the Forward's Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha'aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Nathan Guttman can be reached at guttman@forward.com
Richard Harrington deputy art director, joined the Forward in 1997. Before working at the Forward, he worked in graphic production work for various banks and consulting companies, and at the desktop publishing company Function Thru Form. He is an actor and playwright, and has toured on the Canadian theater fringe-festival circuit and around the world with one- and two-man comedies, most recently the award-winning show “Nharcolepsy,” with Chris Kauffman, a comedy about a cabaret singer and his mime sidekick searching for the Yeti. He was also a founding writer/performer of a radio play collective, the Brick Radio Crash Box, at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn. Nathan Guttman can be reached at production@forward.com
Kurt Hoffman joined the Forward as art director in 1997. Previously, he did graphic production work at Rolling Stone and Us magazine, and freelanced for a desktop publishing company, Function Thru Form, where he specialized in electronic illustration. He has a BFA in Fine Arts from Cooper Union. He is also a musician: He composes, and plays tenor sax, clarinet and banjo ukulele. His current project is Les Chauds Lapins, in which he and partner Meg Reichardt sing and play French songs from the '20s, '30s and '40s; they released their first album, "Parlez-moi d'amour," in 2007. He has been the recipient of NYFA and Meet the Composer grants for musical composition. He has composed various film and television scores, including "The Opportunists," starring Christopher Walken. As a sideman, he has toured extensively with They Might Be Giants, and recorded with artists such as the Jon Spenser Blues Explosion and Frank Black. Kurt Hoffman can be reached at production@forward.com
Nathan Jeffay is the Israel correspondent of the Forward. Previously, he worked in various capacities for the London-based Jewish Chronicle. He also provided reporting on Jewish religious affairs for the national press in the United Kingdom specializing in covering the ultra-Orthodox community and matters of Jewish law. He has a bachelor’s degree in Jewish Civilization from the University of Leeds and a master’s degree in Christian Theology from the University of Cambridge.
Nathaniel Popper, senior writer, has been at the Forward since 2003, serving as the news editor for two years. Before coming to the Forward, he lived in Berlin on a DAAD fellowship, studying literature and writing for American newspapers. Nathaniel is a graduate of Harvard College, where he wrote for Let's Go travel guides and the Harvard International Review. In the fall of 2006 he traveled to Eastern Europe on a World Affairs Journalism Fellowship. He has received multiple awards from the Independent Press Association of New York and was a finalist for the Livingston Awards and the Gerald Loeb business journalism awards. Nathaniel has also written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Nation and Portfolio among other publications. Nathaniel Popper can be reached at popper@forward.com
Laura Sinberg joined the Forward as features editor in 2009. Previously, she worked at The New York Sun, where she was a news editor and style reporter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter at Forbes.com, covering women's issues for their executive woman channel. Laura Sinberg can be reached at sinberg@forward.com.
Nadja Spiegelman, associate Web producer, joined the Forward as a Forward Fellow in June of 2009 and joined the staff in September 2009. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she earned a degree in English and creative writing. Her first children's book, "Zig and Wikki: Something Ate My Homework," is slated for publication in 2010. She can be reached at spiegelman@forward.com.
Lillian Swanson, managing editor, has worked for the Forward since August 2008. Previously, she was the managing editor for the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star; online editor for the Detroit News and project director for the Associated Press Managing Editor's national training program for front-line editors. For nearly two decades, she was an editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, where she worked in such capacities as features editor and assistant managing editor/ombudsman. She is a past president of the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors and a Poynter Institute Ethics Fellow. She teaches editing, management and online skills at journalism conferences. Lillian Swanson can be reached at swanson@forward.com
Daniel Treiman is the opinion editor of the Forward. He worked at the newspaper as an editor and reporter from 2002 to 2004 and rejoined the staff in 2007. He was the founder and editor of The Brooklynite magazine and previously served as editor of New Voices, the national Jewish student magazine. His writing has also been published by Beliefnet, Ha’aretz, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and City Limits Weekly. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Daniel Treiman can be reached at treiman@forward.com
Allison Gaudet Yarrow, deputy Web editor, joined the Forward in January 2009. Previously an associate producer at NBC News Productions, she wrote and produced documentary hours for MSNBC and health segments for a nationally syndicated news magazine. Allison, a graduate of the University of Georgia, has written for Newsweek, Double X, the New York Press, Publishers Weekly, Women’s eNews and Alternet. She is currently at work on a memoir about growing up Jewish in the Deep South. Allison Gaudet Yarrow can be reached at yarrow@forward.com
Teri Zucker is the copy editor of the Forward. She joined the staff in 2004, having served in similar capacities, and written short columns and features, for Soap Opera Digest and for the newsletter division of American Lawyer Media. Her creative nonfiction works have been published on such Web sites as The Poet's Haven, Absolute Write and Outcry Magazine. A graduate of CUNY's Brooklyn College, she contributed to the school's literary magazine, Riverrun. Teri Zucker can be reached at zucker@forward.com