Natan Notable Books

Natan Notable Books is a twice-year­ly award for non­fic­tion books on Jew­ish themes. Natan Notable Books high­lights vital books and authors, and brings inno­v­a­tive and impor­tant ideas to the atten­tion of diverse audiences.

Around Passover and the Jew­ish High Hol­i­days, Natan selects a​“Natan Notable Book,” a recen­t­­ly-pub­­lished or about-to-be pub­lished non-fic­­tion title that will cat­alyze con­ver­sa­tions aligned with the themes of Natan’s grant­mak­ing: rein­vent­ing Jew­ish life and com­mu­ni­ty for the twen­­ty-first cen­tu­ry, shift­ing notions of indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive Jew­ish iden­ti­ty, the his­to­ry and future of Israel, and the evolv­ing rela­tion­ship between Israel and world Jewry.

Natan Notable Book win­ners receive a Natan Notable Book seal and $5,000 for the author, marketing/​distribution coach­ing and pro­mo­tion from Jew­ish Book Coun­cil and Natan, and cus­tomized sup­port designed to bring the book and/​or the author to new audiences.

The Natan Notable Books Com­mit­tee is made up of Natan mem­bers and part­ners. An Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee made up of jour­nal­ists, schol­ars, media fig­ures, and for­mer Book Award win­ners and final­ists nom­i­nate books for con­sid­er­a­tion. Pub­lish­ers and authors can also sub­mit books for consideration.

Sub­mis­sion details can be found below.

*Read about the Fall 2020 win­ner here.*

Natan Notable Books is a new iter­a­tion of what had pre­vi­ous­ly been called the Natan Book Award.

Recent Selections
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Sub­mit a Book
Please review the application materials and eligibility requirements below before submitting this application.

Submissions should be recen­t­­ly-pub­­lished or about-to-be pub­lished non-fic­­tion titles that will cat­alyze con­ver­sa­tions aligned with the themes of Natan’s grant­mak­ing: rein­vent­ing Jew­ish life and com­mu­ni­ty for the twen­­ty-first cen­tu­ry, shift­ing notions of indi­vid­ual and col­lec­tive Jew­ish iden­ti­ty, the his­to­ry and future of Israel, and the evolv­ing rela­tion­ship between Israel and world Jewry.

Digital materials (e.g., book proposal, manuscript) must be emailed to natannotable@jewishbooks.org. The application will not be complete until these files have been received.

The sub­mis­sions for the Spring 2021 award are now open until December 31 for non-fiction titles published between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

Nominator Role
City, State, Country
Please include a short bio here, including previously published books, articles, professional achievements, and any other relevant information. Word count should be no more than 150 words.
2-5 sentence elevator pitch for the book
If available, please provide a contact at the publisher, including the name, title, and email address of the individual
Natan Notable Books Committee 

Evan Behrens

Joshua C. Block

Daniel Bon­ner

Frank Foer, co-chair

Matthew Hiltzik

Tali Rosen­blatt-Cohen, co-chair

Sarah Gould Steinhardt

Michael Wig­ot­sky

Advi­so­ry Committee

Jere­my Dauber (2018 Natan Book Award Finalist)

Mat­ti Fried­man (2018 Natan Book Award winner)

Jef­frey Goldberg

Ilana Kur­shan (2018 Natan Book Award Finalist)

Rebec­ca Lieberman

Alana New­house

James Loef­fler (2018 Natan Book Award Finalist)

Annie Pol­land

Judith Shule­vitz

Build­ing a Conversation

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Spies of No Coun­try is an impor­tant book … Amer­i­cans are not accus­tomed to hear­ing about Israel’s com­plex­i­ty, or its diversity.

– “ ​‘Spies Of No Coun­try’ Offers Nuanced Under­stand­ing Of Israel’s Com­plex­i­ty” (NPR)

The rich his­to­ry of East­ern Jews, includ­ing the crit­i­cal role they played in estab­lish­ing the State of Israel, should not be min­i­mized or erased …Thank­ful­ly, Friedman’s ground­break­ing book pro­vides a vital exam­ple of how to avoid just that.

– ​“Mizrahi Jew­ish spies built Israel, their descen­dants meet racism there” (The Jerusalem Post)

Fried­man [rec­ti­fies] a moral and his­tor­i­cal wrong when he calls our atten­tion to the four young men whom we come to know so well and admire so much in the pages of ​“Spies of No Country.”

– ​“For­got­ten ​‘Spies’ Final­ly Get Their Due” (Jew­ish Jour­nal)

About Natan Fund

Natan inspires phil­an­thropists to become active­ly engaged in build­ing the Jew­ish future by giv­ing col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly to cut­t­ing-edge ini­tia­tives in Israel and in Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties around the world. Natan believes that edu­cat­ed, engaged, and entre­pre­neur­ial phil­an­thropy can trans­form both givers and grant recip­i­ents. Natan is a giv­ing cir­cle — a grant­mak­ing foun­da­tion where mem­bers pool their char­i­ta­ble con­tri­bu­tions, set the group’s phil­an­thropic strat­e­gy and agen­da, and col­lec­tive­ly award grants to emerg­ing ini­tia­tives, work­ing active­ly with their lead­ers to help them grow. We believe that edu­cat­ed, engaged, and entre­pre­neur­ial phil­an­thropy can trans­form both givers and grant recip­i­ents. Learn more about Natan here.