
PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.

PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
Two writers from the Forward are finalists for awards from the Deadline Club, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Club announced Monday. Deputy Culture Editor Talya Zax was one of three journalists nominated in the category of Arts Reporting for her December 2018 cover story, “Men Explain Anne Frank…
The superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia has publicly apologized for a student drawing that many deemed anti-Semitic. The picture, displayed at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus between February 14 and March 14, was one of eight drawings made by a 17-year-old high school student as part of a series titled “Racial…
Amazon Studios responded to Woody Allen’s $68 million breach of contract lawsuit Wednesday night, claiming his public comments about #MeToo justified the termination of their deal. In February, Allen sued the e-store’s film division, claiming they had improperly broken their agreement based on an allegation by his daughter Dylan Farrow that Allen molested her in…
The weathered words on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty endure to this day, even though most immigrants no longer encounter them on their journey. But the sonnet “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus, is only the poet’s most visible contribution to literature. This year, the American Jewish Historical Society, the steward of…
On April 1, 1939, Hitler was in a very bad mood. The previous day the Führer had learned that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had grown something resembling a spine. After reversing Britain’s policy of appeasement on March 15, following Hitler’s seizure of Czechoslovakia, on March 31 Chamberlain made a pledge of Anglo-French support to…
The New York Police Department is investigating magician David Blaine after two women accused him of sexual assault. In a news conference April 1, Dermot F. Shea, the department’s chief of detectives confirmed the investigation into the complaints, first reported by The Daily Beast. Shea refused to comment on the details of the allegations or…
Twitter is a commons of free thought that has no equivalent in our history. Every so often we’re granted reminders of how thoroughly connected the little blue bird has made our lives. Who could have foreseen, for instance, that we would one day have a medium wherein Jim Carrey and Benito Mussolini’s granddaughter could engage…
On April 1 the Jewish Book Council announced the finalists for the 2019 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Awarded since 2007, the Rohr Prize recognizes early career English-language writers whose work reflects the Jewish experience. The five finalists in contention for the top $100,000 prize include two past National Jewish Book Award winners —…
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