Attend the 73rd National Jewish Book Award Celebration Event
This morning, Jewish Book Council announced the winners of the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards live at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan as part of the JCC’s Books That Changed My Life festival. The National Jewish Book Awards is one of Jewish Book Council’s longest-running programs and “provides a terrific opportunity for authors who write exceptional books with Jewish content to be recognized. And — extraordinarily important — the awards bring to the fore books that may give readers one more way, perhaps a new way, to connect with their Judaism,” says Elisa Spungen Bildner, President of Jewish Book Council. This year JBC worked with over 100 judges to consider over 650 submissions.
The winning books include Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance by Jeremy Eichler (Alfred A. Knopf), which was named the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year and won both the History Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award and the Holocaust Award in Memory of Ernest W. Michel. In Time’s Echo, Jeremy Eichler pays homage to some of the twentieth century’s most celebrated composers who memorialized the Second World War and the Holocaust in their music as he uses their compositions to illuminate the landscape of postwar Europe and America. With “the ears of a critic and the tools of a historian,” Eichler introduces a new way of understanding history – “listening with an understanding of music as time’s echo.” It is a “groundbreaking achievement in memorial history,” as noted by our judges.
James McBride wins his first two National Jewish Book Awards, the JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction, and The Miller Family Book Club Award in Memory of Helen Dunn Weinstein and June Keit Miller, for his novel The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Random House). Ruth Madievsky wins the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction with her novel All-Night Pharmacy (Catapult). The Hebrew Fiction in Translation Jane Weitzman Award goes to Yariv Inbar for his book Operation Bethlehem (Genera Ventures Ltd), translated by Dalit Shmueli. The Sephardic Culture Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy is awarded to Kantika by Elizabeth Graver (Metropolitan Books).
Benjamin Balint is the recipient of the Biography Award in Memory of Sara Berenson Stone for his book Bruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History (W. W. Norton & Company), and Sabrina Orah Mark is awarded the The Krauss Family Award In Memory of Simon & Shulamith (Sofi) Goldberg for Autobiography & Memoir for her memoir, Happily: A Personal History — with Fairy Tales (Random House).
Richard Ho wins the Children’s Picture Book Tracy and Larry Brown Family Award for Two New Years, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield (Chronicle Books). Elana K. Arnold receives the Young Adult Literature Award for The Blood Years (Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins Children’s Books), and the Middle Grade Literature Award goes to The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe (Levine Querido).
The Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award for Food Writing and Cookbooks goes to Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria by Marcia Bricker Halperin (Three Hills / Cornell University Press), and Carlie Hoffman wins the Berru Poetry Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash for When There Was Light (Four Way Books).
The Modern Jewish Thought and Experience Dorot Foundation Award in Memory of Joy Ungerleider Award is presented to Jeremy Brown, for his book The Eleventh Plague; Jews and Pandemics from the Bible to COVID-19 (Oxford University Press), and the Scholarship Nahum Sarna Memorial Award is given to Mira Balberg for her book Fractured Tablets: Forgetfulness and Fallibility in Late Ancient Rabbinic Culture (University of California Press).
The Holocaust Memoir Award in Memory of Dr. Charles and Ethel Weitzman goes to Tony Bernard for The Ghost Tattoo (Citadel Press / Kensington Books).
This year, we are pleased to present the Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel to Altie Karper. There are just a few legendary editors across genres whose names are synonymous with the highest quality and the most influential books; in our field, that legendary editor is Altie Karper.
As the managing editor for Pantheon and Schocken and editorial director of Schocken, and for all the years and positions that she has held prior, Karper has been at the forefront of promoting Jewish literature, and truly upholding the history and mission of Schocken Books. Karper served as Editorial Director of Schocken for twenty-three of the years — retiring from that position this past December — and in those years helped publish some of the most important Jewish books in recent history.
This year, JBC has partnered with independent bookstores to celebrate the news of the 73rd National Jewish Book Award winners. If you are an independent bookstores that is interested in joining our efforts this year and moving forward, please be in touch with evie@jewishbooks.org.
A complete list of the 73rd National Jewish Book Award winners and finalists can be found below, and additional information is available at www.JewishBookCouncil.org.
JBC’s website features a database of current and past National Jewish Book Award winners and finalists; judges’ remarks on the 73rd winners and finalists will also be available after the March 2024 celebration.
The winners of the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards will be honored on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 at 6:00 PM ET at an in-person ceremony. The hosts of the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards are authors Alison Rose Greenberg and Bess Kalb. To buy tickets for the awards ceremony, click here.
If you are a member of the press and would like to attend this year’s celebration event, please email Evie at evie@jewishbooks.org.
About Jewish Book Council: Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating, enriching, and strengthening the community through Jewish literature. Each year, JBC reaches over half a million readers with its vibrant digital presence, in addition to working with over 260 touring authors each year, creating resources for over 2,800 book clubs, facilitating over 1,400 events, presenting the National Jewish Book Awards and Natan Notable Books, co-hosting the popular literary series Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation, and publishing its annual print publication, Paper Brigade. JBC ensures that the authors of Jewish-interest books have a platform, and that readers are able to find these books and have the tools to discuss them with their communities.
About the National Jewish Book Awards: The National Jewish Book Awards were established by Jewish Book Council in 1950 in order to recognize outstanding works of Jewish literature. They are the oldest awards of their kind.
Jewish Book of the Year
Everett Family Foundation Award
Winner:
Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance
Jeremy Eichler
Alfred A Knopf — Penguin Random House
Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel
Altie Karper
American Jewish Studies
Celebrate 350 Award
Winner:
Walkers in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Midcentury New York
Deborah Dash Moore
Three Hills/Cornell University Press
Finalists:
The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America Sandra Fox
Stanford University Press
Autobiography and Memoir
The Krauss Family Award in Memory of Simon & Shulamith (Sofi) Goldberg
Winner:
Happily: A Personal History-with Fairy Tales
Sabrina Orah Mark
Random House
Finalists:
Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family
Daniel Finkelstein
Penguin Random House
Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets
Kyo Maclear
Scribner
Biography
In Memory of Sara Berenson Stone
Winner:
Bruno Schulz: An Artist, a Murder, and the Hijacking of History
Benjamin Balint
W. W. Norton & Company
Finalists:
Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence
Joseph Berger
Yale University Press
And None Shall Make Them Afraid: Eight Stories of the Modern State of Israel
Rick Richman
Encounter Books
The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
Jonathan Rosen
Penguin Press
Book Club
The Miller Family Award in Memory of Helen Dunn Weinstein and June Keit Miller
Winner:
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
James McBride
Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Random House.
Finalists:
Anne Berest
Europa Editions
Don Futterman
Wicked Son
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Sondra Silverston, trans.
Little, Brown, and Company
Jennifer Rosner
Flatiron Books
Children’s Picture Book
Tracy and Larry Brown Family
Winner:
Richard Ho, Lynn Scurfield, illus.
Chronicle Books
Finalists:
Randi Sonenshine, Gina Capaldi illus.
Apples & Honey Press, an imprint of Behrman House
Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport
Caren Stelson, Selina Alko, illus.
Lerner Publishing Group
Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice
Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award
Winner:
Julia Watts Belser
Beacon Press
Finalists:
The Secret of Love: A Glimpse into the Mystical Wisdom of Rav Kook
Aryeh Ben David
Kasva Press LLC
Debut Fiction
Goldberg Prize
Winner:
Ruth Madievsky
Catapult
Finalists:
River Adams
Delphinium Books
Buzzy Jackson
Penguin Random House
Education and Jewish Identity
In Memory of Dorothy Kripke
Winner:
Israel 201: Your Next-Level Guide to the Magic, Mystery, and Chaos of Life in the Holy Land
Joel Chasnoff and Benji Lovitt
Gefen Publishing House
Finalists:
Frayed: The Disputes Unraveling Religious Zionists
Yair Ettinger
Koren Publishers
Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America
Laura Yares
NYU Press
Fiction
JJ Greenberg Memorial Award
Winner:
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
James McBride
Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Random House.
Finalists:
Anne Berest
Europa Editions
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Sondra Silverston, trans.
Little, Brown, and Company
Lore Segal
Melville House Publishing
Food Writing & Cookbooks
Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award
Winner:
Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria
Marcia Bricker Halperin
Three Hills / Cornell University Press
Finalist:
Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen
Leah Koenig
W. W. Norton & Company
Hebrew Fiction in Translation
Jane Weitzman Award
Winner:
Yariv Inbar, Dalit Shmueli, trans.
Genera Ventures, Ltd.
Finalists:
Savyon Leibrecht
Europa Editions
Snunit Liss
eBookPro Publishing
History
Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award
Winner:
Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance Jeremy Eichler
Alfred A Knopf- Penguin Random House
Finalists:
The Jewish Eighteenth Century, Volume 2: A European Biography, 1750 – 1800 Shmuel Feiner
Indiana University Press
Holocaust
In Memory of Ernest W. Michel
Winner:
Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance Jeremy Eichler
Alfred A Knopf- Penguin Random House
Finalist:
Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler’s Germany
Wolf Gruner
Yale University Press
Rain of Ash: Roma, Jews, and the Holocaust
Ari Joskowicz
Princeton University Press
Holocaust Memoir
Holocaust Memoir Award: In Memory of Dr. Charles and Ethel Weitzman
Winner:
Tony Bernard
Kensington Books
Finalists:
American Wolf: From Nazi Refugee to American Spy
Audrey Birnbaum
Amsterdam Publishers
Daughter of History: Traces of an Immigrant Girlhood
Susan Rubin Suleiman
Stanford University Press
Middle Grade Literature
Winner:
The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman
Mari Lowe
Levine Querido
Finalists:
Emily Bowen Cohen
HarperCollins / Heartdrum
The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz
Jeremy Dronfield
HarperCollins / Quill Tree Books
Laurel Snyder
HarperCollins / Walden Pond Press
Modern Jewish Thought and Experience
Dorot Foundation Award in Memory of Joy Ungerleider Mayerson
Winner:
The Eleventh Plague: Jews and Pandemics from the Bible to COVID-19
Jeremy Brown
Oxford University Press
Finalists:
Erica Brown
Koren Publishers
Who Are the Jews-And Who Can We Become?
Donniel Hartman
University of Nebraska Press/Jewish Publication Society
Zionism: An Emotional State
Derek J. Penslar
Rutgers University Press
Poetry
Berru Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash
Winner:
Carlie Hoffman
Four Way Books
Finalists:
Michael Dumanis
Four Way Books
Let Our Bodies Change the Subject
Jared Harél
University of Nebraska Press
Maya Pindyck
Anhinga Press
Scholarship
Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award
Winner:
Fractured Tablets: Forgetfulness and Fallibility in Late Ancient Rabbinic Culture
Mira Balberg
University of California Press
Finalists:
The Kabbalistic Tree / האילן הקבלי
J. H. Chajes
Penn State University Press
Living with the Law: Gender and Community Among the Jews of Medieval Egypt
Oded Zinger
University of Pennsylvania Press
Sephardic Culture
Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy
Winner:
Elizabeth Graver
Metropolitan Books
Finalist:
Lia Brozgal, Rebecca Glasberg, eds.
University of California Press
Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History
Jonathan Ray
University of Pennsylvania Press
Women’s Studies
Barbara Dobkin Award
Winner:
Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides after the Holocaust
Robin Judd
University of North Carolina Press
Finalist:
A Revolution in Type: Gender and the Making of the American Yiddish Press
Ayelet Brinn
NYU Press
The Weavers of Trautenau: Jewish Female Forced Labor in the Holocaust
Janine P. Holc
Brandeis University Press
Writing Based on Archival Material
The JDC-Herbert Katzki Award
Winner:
Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides after the Holocaust
Robin Judd
University of North Carolina Press
Finalist:
Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict
Oren Kessler
Rowman & Littlefield
Young Adult Literature
Winner:
Elana K. Arnold
HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray
Finalists:
S. Khubiar
Blackstone Publishing
Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust
Neal Shusterman
Scholastic
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