Pho­to by Aaron Bur­den on Unsplash

As 2023 draws to a close, we’re look­ing back at a year filled with orig­i­nal and trans­lat­ed fic­tion, sto­ries of Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties around the world, and per­son­al essays by authors in Israel and Israeli authors abroad (our Wit­ness­ing series) that res­onat­ed with you in these last few fraught months. Below are the ten essays on PB Dai­ly that you read the most this past year. (And if you’re ready to just skip to 2024, we’ve cre­at­ed a pre­view of fif­teen books we can’t wait to come out this win­ter.) 

The Vir­gin Grand­moth­er” by Kate Schmier

Just like the Soul Returns to the Body’ ” Yaara Shehori

A Demon for the Ages” by Sara Ronis

Hunt­ing in Amer­i­ca” by Tehi­la Haki­mi, trans­lat­ed by Joan­na Chen

That They Be Safe in the Land” by Ilana M. Blumberg

Simona is the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s man­ag­ing edi­tor of dig­i­tal con­tent and mar­ket­ing. She grad­u­at­ed from Sarah Lawrence Col­lege with a con­cen­tra­tion in Eng­lish and His­to­ry and stud­ied abroad in India and Eng­land. Pri­or to the JBC she worked at Oxford Uni­ver­si­ty Press. Her writ­ing has been fea­tured in LilithThe Nor­mal School, Dig­ging through the Fat, and oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. She holds an MFA in fic­tion from The New School.