National Jewish Book Awards

Sephardic Culture

Year	Endowment	Winner	Finalists
2025	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Ariella Aïsha Azoulay Haitham Haddad Hagar Ophir Golden Threads Ayin Press	Ross Brann Moses Maimonides: A Very Short Introduction Oxford University Press Mostafa Hussein Hebrew Orientalism: Jewish Engagement with Arabo-Islamic Culture in Late Ottoman and British Palestine Princeton University Press
2024	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Aviad Moreno Entwined Homelands, Empowered Diasporas: Hispanic Moroccan Jews and Their Globalizing Community Indiana University Press	Blanche Bendahan; Yaëlle Azagury and Frances Malino, trans.  Mazaltob Brandeis University Press
2023	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Elizabeth Graver Kantika Metropolitan Books	Leïla Sebbar, cur.; Lia Brozgal and Rebecca Glasberg, eds.; Jane Kuntz, Rebekah Vince, and Robert Watson, trans. A Jewish Childhood in the Muslim Mediterranean University of California Press Jonathan Ray Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History University of Pennsylvania Press
2022	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Michael Frank One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster	Hélène Jawhara Piñer Jews, Food, and Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage Academic Studies Press Joseph Sassoon The Sassoons: The Great Global Merchants and the Making of an Empire Pantheon
2021	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Daniela Flesler and Adrián Pérez Melgosa The Memory Work of Jewish Spain Indiana University Press	Sigal Samuel; Vali Mintzi, illus. Osnat and Her Dove: The True Story of the World’s First Female Rabbi Levine Querido
2020	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Devi Mays Forging Ties, Forging Passports: Migration and the Modern Sephardi Diaspora Stanford University Press	Stefan Hertmans; David McKay, trans. The Convert Pantheon Books Dina Danon The Jews of Ottoman Izmir: A Modern History Stanford University Press Dalia Kandiyoti The Converso’s Return: Conversion and Sephardi History in Contemporary Literature and Culture Stanford University Press
2019	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Joshua Cole Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria Cornell University Press	Yaacob Dweck Dissident Rabbi: The Life of Jacob Sasportas Princeton University Press Sarah Abrevaya Stein Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century Farrar Straus & Giroux David M. Gitlitz Living in Silverado: Secret Jews in the Silver Mining Towns of Colonial Mexico University of New Mexico Press
2018	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Jonathan Decter Dominion Built of Praise: Panegyric and Legitimacy Among Jews in the Medieval Mediterranean University of Pennsylvania Press	Sarah Abrevaya Stein Aomar Boum The Holocaust and North Africa Stanford University Press
2017	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Jessica M. Marglin Across Legal Lines: Jews and Muslims in Modern Morocco Yale University Press	Joshua Schreier The Merchants of Oran: A Jewish Port at the Dawn of Empire Stanford University Press
2016	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Sarah Abrevaya Stein Extraterritorial Dreams: Europe Citizenship, Sephardi Jews, and the Ottoman Twentieth Century University of Chicago Press	Monique Rodrigues Balbuena Homeless Tongues: Poetry and Languages of the Sephardic Diaspora Stanford University Press Benjamin R. Gampel Anti-Jewish Riots in the Crown of Aragon and the Royal Response 1391 – 1392 Cambridge University Press Devin E. Naar Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece Stanford University Press
2015	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	David A. Wacks Double Diaspora in Sephardic Literature Indiana University Press	Mark S. Wagner Jews and Islamic Law in Early 20th Century Yemen Indiana University Press
2014	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, eds. Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700 – 1950 Stanford University Press	Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman The Business of Identity: Jews, Muslims and Economic Life in Medieval Egypt Stanford University Press Francesca Bregoli Mediterranean Enlightenment: Livornese Jews, Tuscan Culture, and Eighteenth-Century Reform Stanford University Press Julia Phillips Cohen Becoming Ottomans: Sephardi Jews and Imperial Citizenship in the Modern Era Oxford University Press
2013	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Maureen Jackson Mixing Musics: Turkish Jewry and the Urban Landscape of a Sacred Song Stanford University Press
2012	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld Poverty and Welfare among the Portuguese Jews of Early Modern Amsterdam The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization	Aron Rodrigue and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, eds.; Isaac Jerusalmi, trans. A Jewish Voice from Ottoman Salonica: The Ladino Memoir of Sa’adi Besalel a‑Levi Stanford University Press Stella Cohen; Marc Hoberman, photographer Stella’s Sephardic Table: Jewish Family Recipes From the Mediterranean Island of Rhodes Hoberman Collection
2011	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Michelle U. Campos Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine Stanford University Press	Julia R. Lieberman, ed. Sephardi Family Life in the Early Modern Diaspora Brandeis University Press Olga Borovaya Modern Ladino Culture: Press, Belles Lettres, and Theater in the Late Ottoman Empire Indiana University Press
2010	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Hillel Halkin Yehuda Halevi Schocken Books/Nextbook Press	Marc David Baer The Dönme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries, and Secular Turks Stanford University Press
2009	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Rachel Shabi We Look Like the Enemy: The Hidden Story of Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands Walker & Co.
2008	Mimi Frank Award In Memory of Becky Levy	K. E. Fleming Greece: A Jewish History Princeton University Press
2007	Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy	Poopa Dweck The Aromas of Aleppo HarperCollins
2006	Mimi Frank Award In Memory of Becky Levy	Dan Ben-Amos, ed. Folktales of the Jews, Volume I: Tales From the Sephardic Dispersion The Jewish Publication Society
2005	Mimi Frank Award In Memory of Becky Levy	Ilan Stavans, ed. and intro. The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature Schocken Books

Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards

By Year

By Category

Sephardic Cul­ture

About this award

Ariel­la Aïsha Azoulay Haitham Had­dad Hagar Ophir

Ross Brann

Mostafa Hus­sein

Avi­ad Moreno

Blanche Bendahan; Yaëlle Azagury and Frances Malino, trans.&nbsp;

Eliz­a­beth Graver

Leïla Sebbar, cur.;&nbsp;Lia Brozgal and&nbsp;Rebecca Glasberg, eds.;&nbsp;Jane Kuntz, Rebekah Vince, and Robert Watson, trans.

Jonathan Ray

Michael Frank

Hélène Jawhara Piñer

Joseph Sas­soon

Daniela Flesler and Adrián Pérez Melgosa

Sigal Samuel;&nbsp;Vali Mintzi, illus.

Devi Mays

Stefan Hertmans;&nbsp;David McKay, trans.

Dina Danon

Dalia Kandiyoti

Joshua Cole

Yaacob Dweck

Sarah Abre­vaya Stein

David M. Gitlitz

Jonathan Decter

Sarah Abre­vaya Stein Aomar Boum

Jessica M. Marglin

Joshua Schreier

Sarah Abrevaya Stein

Extraterritorial Dreams: Europe Citizenship, Sephardi Jews, and the Ottoman Twentieth Century

Monique Rodrigues Balbuena

Benjamin R. Gampel

Devin E. Naar

David A. Wacks

Mark S. Wagner

Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, eds.

Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman

Francesca Bregoli

Julia Phillips Cohen

Maureen Jackson

Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld

Aron Rodrigue and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, eds.; Isaac Jerusalmi, trans.

Stella Cohen; Marc Hoberman, photographer

Michelle U. Campos

Julia R. Lieberman, ed.

Olga Borovaya

Hillel Halkin

Marc David Baer

Rachel Shabi

K. E. Fleming

Poopa Dweck

Dan Ben-Amos, ed.

Ilan Stavans, ed. and intro.

National Jewish Book Awards

Sephardic Culture

Ariella Aïsha Azoulay

Haitham Haddad

Hagar Ophir

Mostafa Hussein

Aviad Moreno

Blanche Bendahan; Yaëlle Azagury and Frances Malino, trans.

Elizabeth Graver

Leïla Sebbar, cur.; Lia Brozgal and Rebecca Glasberg, eds.; Jane Kuntz, Rebekah Vince, and Robert Watson, trans.

Joseph Sassoon

Sigal Samuel; Vali Mintzi, illus.

Stefan Hertmans; David McKay, trans.

Sarah Abrevaya Stein

Sarah Abrevaya Stein

Aomar Boum