Our blog features essays, book reviews, coverage of FTB titles, and noteworthy news of American Jewish experience by our publisher.
Ad for Israel Book Canceled
Posted on December 2, 2024
Ad for Israel Book Canceled Because ‘Customers Might Complain’ Magazine rejects advertisement for Bernard-Henri Lévy’s work because it will give booksellers ‘trouble they haven’t asked for and don’t wish to have.’ By Francesca Block October 23, 2024 A prominent trade publication refused to advertise a new book because it feared the word Israel in its […]
Book Publishing and Antisemitism
Posted on November 3, 2024
When a list of Jewish authors is circulating with instructions to boycott them, publishing cannot remain silent by Kathleen Schmidt; May 13, 2024 I debated whether to wade into these waters, but the “yes” outweighed the “no” in my gut, so here we are. I will preface this post by saying I am not getting […]
Jewish writers say the post-Oct. 7 English literary world has blacklisted them
Posted on October 1, 2024
As the war in Gaza goes on, authors say that when they don’t face outright hostility for being Jews, they are marginalized as publishers claim their voices aren’t marketable By CATHRYN J. PRINCE – 13 April 2024 13 April 2024 NEW YORK — Erika Dreifus has spent the better part of two decades sharing resources […]
3 am by Eve Barlow, creator of Blacklisted
Posted on September 5, 2024
I learned how to write at this time. This is when you become a writer. In the wee hours. The brain needs out of the head. Sometimes it’s the plague of a worry that refuses to die in slumber. Sometimes it’s the rush of an idea that required a subconscious requiem to bring it into […]
Rude and Crude but Definitely Justified
Posted on August 8, 2024
Pushkin House in London, in collaboration with the University of London, recently invited Israeli author Dina Rubina (above) to a literary discussion on Zoom about her books. Then she received the email below from the meeting’s moderator, Nataliya Rulyova, who demanded she state where she stands “on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” because other invited participants need […]
On Getting My Writing Mojo Back, Post October 7th
Posted on July 1, 2024
by Nina Lichtenstein I know I’m not the only writer whose creative mojo left the room after the horrendous events on October 7thand the subsequent war in Gaza and Israel with all its gruesome images and devastation. You do not need to be Jewish or Palestinian to be impacted by such meaningless human suffering. Months […]
A Chill Has Fallen Over Jews in Publishing
Posted on June 3, 2024
By James Kirchick, May 27, 2024 This month, an account on X with the handle @moyurireads and 360 followers published a link to a color-coded spreadsheet classifying nearly 200 writers according to their views on the “genocide” in Gaza. Titled “Is Your Fav Author a Zionist?,” it reads like a cross between Tiger Beat and “The […]
Jewish Writers Must Defy the Publishing Industry’s Narrow Genres
Posted on May 1, 2024
We should write to defy those who prefer seeing books where Jews are either victims or plotting their escape from religious Jewish practice. The Jewish Journal – Judy Gruen In the film “American Fiction,” protagonist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is a Black English professor and author of literary but commercially unloved novels. Portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, […]
The Fight for the Future of Publishing
Posted on April 1, 2024
Ideological fanatics and fear have crippled the major houses. But new book publishers are rising up to take the risks they won’t. by Alex Perez in The Free Press [https://www.thefp.com/p/the-fight-for-the-future-of-publishing] November 28, 2023 On September 19, 2022, Elle Griffin, a freelance writer in Salt Lake City, published the first installment of her new fantasy novel, Oblivion, […]
PEN AMERICA – Update on Book Bans in the 2022-2023 School Year
Posted on March 6, 2024
Shows Expanded Censorship of Themes Centered on Race, History, Sexual Orientation and Gender As noted in PEN America’s previous Banned in the USA reports, the movement to ban books that has grown since 2021 is deeply undemocratic, as it seeks to impose restrictions on all students and families based on the preferences of a few parents or […]