This is the Forward’s coverage of books and literature, including both non-fictional and fictional works.
Books
The Latest
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Books Former NY congressman Steve Israel breaks into the book business
In the five years since Steve Israel retired from Congress, he’s written his second novel, been considered for ambassador to Israel, helped recruit Democratic candidates and launched a think tank at Cornell University. But nothing seems to excite him as much as opening his own bookstore — one that will reflect his interests, including his…
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Books ‘A hypocrite’: Israelis in publishing say Sally Rooney is turning her back on Hebrew readers
Like many Israelis, Shelley Goldman, a retired book and newspaper editor from Tel Aviv, was shocked when Irish author Sally Rooney said she will not sell the Hebrew-language rights to her latest book to a publishing house that doesn’t abide by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s guidelines. Rooney said in a statement Tuesday that…
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Books ‘What she’s doing is anti-translation.’ Why Israeli translators are upset about Rooney’s boycott.
Sally Rooney’s decision to refuse the translation rights of her latest novel to “Israeli-based” publishers has implications not just for BDS, but for the greater dialogue across languages. While Rooney clarified her position to state that she is not boycotting Hebrew, the prospect of a widely-available Hebrew translation not published in Israel seems unlikely. In…
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Books After the Tree of Life massacre, an inspiring story of a community coming together
Mark Oppenheimer tells the story of how the Pittsburgh Jewish community rebounded after tragedy
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Books An oral history of the most epic Jewish summer camp prank ever
The summer before 10th grade, some friends of mine pulled off what I have long thought had to be the most outrageous prank of all time: spoiling the biggest twist in the Harry Potter series for an entire sleepaway camp. It happened at Camp Ramah in Ojai, Calif., on July 18, 2005, two days after…
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Books How classic Yiddish tales are being brought back to life — and in English too!
David Forman’s newest book is an old one. Rich with tales of giants, the Tudor court and highwaymen besieging a humble Jewish village, “The Clever Little Tailor” is the first English translation and bilingual edition of Yiddish writer Solomon Simon’s 1933 collection of stories about Shnayderl the tailor. The book is noteworthy for having the…
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Books ACT UP changed AIDS activism. Sarah Schulman wants us to learn its lessons
Sarah Schulman had already been covering AIDS as a journalist for five years when she attended a 1987 demonstration organized by the newly-formed AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, better known as ACT UP. ACT UP members picketed outside New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for 72 hours in protest of the sluggish pace…
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Books Looking for Hope: A writer finds inspiration in Jewish-Palestinian friendship, especially now
Haviva Ner-David was just starting to promote her debut novel, about the intersecting lives of two Israeli women — one Jewish, one Palestinian — when last month’s military escalation with Gaza erupted, accompanied by the worst internecine fighting between Jewish and Arab citizens in recent memory. Ner David, a rabbi, writer, and mother of seven,…
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Most Popular
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Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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Opinion I’m an Israeli who lives in New York. Here’s why I’m voting for Mamdani
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Sports It’s so cool that Sandy Koufax was there for that
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News How Mamdani built bridges to Jewish New Yorkers, from Williamsburg to Park Slope
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion The three profound Jewish lessons of Mamdani’s astonishing victory
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News Mamdani’s victory divides Jewish leaders one more way: Whether to say congratulations
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Fast Forward In a first, a ballot initiative to divest from Israel has won at the ballot box in Boston suburb
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Fast Forward In NJ governor’s race, Mikie Sherrill fends off GOP candidate whose aide spurned ‘money from Jews’
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