Book of the Week 16 February 2026
The Tribe by Michael Arditti Inspired by the family of the author’s paternal grandmother, the Modianos, The Tribe traces the fortunes of the Carraches, a powerful Sephardic dynasty in Salonica, from the dying days of the Ottoman Empire through exile, occupation and the aftermath of the Holocaust. After the Greek annexation of the city, the […]
Book of the Week 9 February 2026
The Book Against Death by Elias Canetti Elias Canetti’s The Book Against Death, newly translated by Freudenheim Translation Prize winner Peter Filkins, gathers a lifetime of aphorisms, reflections and fragments written in defiance of mortality. Begun in 1937 and published in English decades after his death, the Nobel laureate’s unfinished project blends personal grief with […]
Book of the Week 2 February 2026
The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad Three brilliant, satirical and often highly uncomfortable novellas from one of Israel’s greatest contemporary writers. For a non-Hebrew speaking audience, it’s Arad’s first work to be translated into English – and well worth the read! read about the risa domb porjes prize
Book of the Week 26 January 2026
Matchmaker, Matchmaker: Find Me a Love that Lasts Aleeza Ben Shalom offers a wise and refreshingly direct guide to modern dating, debunking common myths about love. With a sharp eye for self-sabotage and a talent for cutting through nonsense, Aleeza invites us to be more flexible, to look beyond the obvious, and above all, to […]
Freuedenheim Translation Prize Shortlist 2026
2026 Freudenheim Translation Prize Shortlist Discover the six titles shortlisted for the inaugural Freudenheim Translation Prize. Register for the announcement event on the 12th February to be the first to discover the winner. Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade, translated by Rose Waldman Sons and Daughters brings Chaim Grade’s long-suppressed Yiddish epic to the public, […]
Book of the Week 12 January 2026
Howl by Howard Jacobson Howard Jacobson delivers what may be the definitive Diaspora Jewish novel for our times: furious, formally poised, and devastatingly funny. Written in the immediate aftermath of 7 October, it follows Ferdinand Drexler, a man who has not lost his mind so much as found himself living in a world that has. […]
Book of the Week 5 January 2026
The Natural by Bernard Malmud Published in 1952, the year of the inaugural Jewish Book Week, The Natural is a formative American Jewish novel. By reimagining baseball’s myths, Bernard Malamud claimed America’s national pastime while infusing it with a Jewish moral imagination shaped by exile, suffering, ethical reckoning, and responsibility. Beneath its sporting surface lies […]
Book of the Week 29 December 2025
Bob Dylan: Jewish Roots, American Soil This book follows Dylan’s journey from Robert Zimmerman of Hibbing to cultural icon, ending with the electric turning point of 1966. Blending biography with social history, author Harry Freedman explores how Dylan’s Jewish background shaped his drive to reinvent himself and popular music, in a compelling exploration of identity […]
Book of the Week 15 December 2025
Ninette’s War by John Jay Drawn from a teenage diary and meticulous research, Ninette’s War recounts the experience of a privileged French Jewish family confronting Vichy antisemitism and Nazi persecution. John Jay balances Ninette’s sheltered perspective with a wider historical reckoning, showing how assumptions of safety held by many established French Jews collapsed. An intimate, […]
Risa Domb/Porjes Prize Shortlist 2026
2026 Risa Domb/Prize Shortlist Discover the thirteen titles longlisted for the 2026 Risa Domb/Porjes Prize. The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad, translated by Jessica Cohen A collection of three moving novellas, blending irony and sensitivity, that delve into the stories of three Israeli women whose lives are irrevocably changed by immigration to the United States. […]
Book of the Week 1 December 2025
The Traitors Circle Jonathan Freedland’s The Traitors Circle is a superb work of narrative history – sharply paced and as compelling as any thriller. Charting the lives of Berlin’s unlikely wartime resisters, Freedland blends meticulous research with his trademark storytelling flair in a book that offers an account of courage, and the stark choices demanded […]
Book of the Week 24 November 2025
Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is an exhilarating exploration of one of nature’s greatest riddles. Oren Harman reveals the hidden order within life’s most dramatic transformations, from dissolving pupae to the “immortal” jellyfish that becomes a baby again. Drawing on vivid histories and striking scientific insights, he shows how everything – from insects to human lives – is […]