Lagnado Wins Sami Rohr Prize

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Lucette Lagnado won the 2008 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. The Jewish Book Council announced the news this week. Lagnado is a former editor of the Forward and is now a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. She won the $100,000 prize for her memoir, “The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family’s Exodus From Old Cairo to the New World” (2007).
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
