This is the Forward’s coverage of books and literature, including both non-fictional and fictional works.
Books
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Books Christmas in America
Crossposted From Under the Fig Tree Those who, for one reason or another, stand outside the frame of Yuletide cheer often find their voices muted come Christmas. The singing of “Silent Night” leaves us, well, silent. Not so for the protagonist of “The Loudest Voice,” one of the most celebrated of Grace Paley’s many singular…
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Books My Horribly Embarrassing Memo
On Monday, Avi Steinberg wrote about Kafka in Tel Aviv. His first book, “Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian,” was just released. His blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog series. For more information on…
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Books Composing Identity, From Jamaica to England
This year’s Man Booker Prize shortlist featured two authors who write about groups not often represented in British literature. Howard Jacobson, author of “The Finkler Question,” has made a career crafting a literary image of the English Jew, while Andrea Levy, shortlisted for “The Long Song,” has documented the black British experience in her five…
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Books Is Yiddish Literature the Next Big Thing?
The Brothers Ashkenazi By I.J. Singer, translated by Joseph Singer Other Press, 432 pages, $16.95 The Magician of Lublin By Isaac Bashevis Singer Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 256 pages, $15 The Glatstein Chronicles By Jacob Glatstein Edited and introduced by Ruth R. Wisse, translated by Maier Deshell and Norbert Guterman Yale University Press, 432 pages,…
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Books The Pit of Tel Aviv, A Preliminary Damage Report
Avi Steinberg’s first book, “Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian,” is now available. His blog posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog series. For more information on the series, please visit: I was on a roll…
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Books 30 Days, 30 Texts: Conclusion
In celebration of Jewish Book Month, The Arty Semite has partnered with the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA) and the Jewish Book Council to present “30 Days, 30 Texts,” a series of reflections by community leaders on the books that influenced their Jewish journeys. Today, Jewish Book Council director Carolyn Starman Hessel concludes…
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Books Pen Pals Reunited: Gershom Scholem and Hannah Arendt
The friendship between the great kabbalist Gershom Scholem and the political scientist Hannah Arendt famously foundered in the 1960s after a disagreement over Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem,” an account, of the trial of the Nazi war criminal. Scholem reproached Arendt for a lack of “ahavath Yisrael,” to which Arendt readily concurred that she lacked “ahavath”…
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Books 30 Days, 30 Texts: ‘The Jewish Way’
In celebration of Jewish Book Month, The Arty Semite is partnering with the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA) and the Jewish Book Council to present “30 Days, 30 Texts,” a series of reflections by community leaders on the books that influenced their Jewish journeys. Today, Michael Miloff writes about “The Jewish Way: Living…
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Fast Forward Talarico won’t campaign with Democratic House candidate who wants to open ‘a prison for American Zionists’
In Case You Missed It
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Yiddish אַ שוועבנדיקע הילצערנע שיל אויפֿן ווענעציער ביענאַליי פֿון 2026 A floating wooden synagogue at the 2026 Venice Biennale
אין פֿאַרגלײַך מיט די פֿיזישע פּאַוויליאָנען געשאַפֿן פֿון אָפֿיציעלע לענדער איז דער ייִדישלאַנד־פּאַוויליאָן געבויט אויף אידעען
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News Mamdani Nakba Day video prompts pushback from Jewish leaders amid rising tensions
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Yiddish World Molly Crabapple’s book is well researched but ideologically biased
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News At Trump’s Christian revival on the National Mall, one rabbi made a Jewish case for America