In 2006, in celebration of Sami Rohr's 80th birthday, his children and grandchildren inaugarated the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature to honor his lifelong love of Jewish writing.



The annual award recognizes the unique role of contemporary writers in the transmission and examination of Jewish values, and is intended to encourage and promote outstanding writing of Jewish interest.

Each year, the prize of $100,000 will aim to reward an emerging writer whose work has demonstrated a fresh vision and evidence of future potential. Recipients must have written a book of exceptional literary merit that stimulates an interest in themes of Jewish concern. Fiction and non-fiction books are considered in alternate years.

In conjunction with this award, the Rohr family has established the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute, a forum devoted to the continuity of Jewish literature.

The Prize and Institute will be coordinated and administered under the exclusive auspices of the Jewish Book Council. Winners will be selected by an independent panel of judges.



The 2010 Prize will be awarded to Kenneth B. Moss for his book Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution and Sarah Abrevaya Stein for her book Plumes in March 2010 in Jerusalem, Israel.

The 2009 Prize was awarded to Sana Krasikov for One More Year.

The 2008 Prize was awarded to Lucette Lagnado for The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World.

The Inaugural Prize in 2007 was awarded to Tamar Yellin for The Genizah at the House of Shepher .




Fiction and non-fiction books published in the English language will be considered in alternate years. Translations are acceptable. For the fiction prize, short story collections are eligible. The subject matter of non-fiction works is limited to:

• History: a work about the Jewish historical experience;

• Biography/ Autobiography/ Memoir: as related to a Jewish experience;

• Contemporary Jewish Life: a non-fiction book about issues facing modern Jewish communities;

• Jewish Scholarship: a non-fiction selection that makes a valuable contribution to Jewish thought and learning;

• Current Affairs: a work that focuses on a political or cultural Jewish issue of the times.

For more information, contact the Jewish Book Council by e-mail at samirohrprize@jewishbooks.org.

For information about the 2010 Finalists, click here