{"id":71516,"date":"2023-01-20T07:25:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T12:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=71516"},"modified":"2023-01-20T07:25:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T12:25:37","slug":"michael-twittys-koshersoul-a-memoir-of-food-and-identity-named-jewish-book-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/michael-twittys-koshersoul-a-memoir-of-food-and-identity-named-jewish-book-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Twitty\u2019s \u2018Koshersoul,\u2019 a memoir of food and identity, named Jewish book of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 \u201cKoshersoul,\u201d chef Michael W. Twitty\u2019s memoir about his career fusing Jewish and African-American culinary histories, was named the Jewish book of 2022 by the Jewish Book Council.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_42732\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42732\" class=\"wp-image-42732 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/198;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42732\" class=\"wp-image-42732 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams-768x506.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Michael-Twitty-at-FBF-2_credit-Clay-Williams.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-42732\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Twitty in New York City in 2017. (Photo by Clay Williams)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Subtitled \u201cThe Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew,\u201d Twitty\u2019s book provides \u201cdeep dives into theology, identity, and, of course, food \u2014 giving readers the impetus to reflect on their heritage and religion in a new way,\u201d the council said in naming \u201cKoshersoul\u201d the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>The winners of the 72nd National Jewish Book Awards were announced Wednesday at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan as part of its inaugural Books That Changed My Life festival.<\/p>\n<p>Dani Shapiro won her second National Jewish Book Award, and her first JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction, for her novel \u201cSignal Fires.\u201d Her first novel in 15 years traces the effects of a fatal car crash on a family over a 50-year time span.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ashley Goldberg won the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction with his novel \u201cAbomination,\u201d about a scandal at a Jewish day school and the paths taken in its aftermath by two of its students, one secular and one religious. Miriam Ruth Black won The Miller Family Book Club Award for her novel \u201cShayna,\u201d a novel of early 20th-century immigrants set in a shtetl and New York\u2019s Lower East Side.<\/p>\n<p>In other nonfiction categories, Michael Frank was the winner in both the new Holocaust Memoir category and the Sephardic Culture category for his book \u201cOne Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World.\u201d The book is based on his conversations with Levi, a Holocaust survivor who remembers the once-vibrant Sephardic Jewish community that had thrived on Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_71517\" style=\"width: 211px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71517\" class=\"wp-image-71517 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul-201x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul-201x300.png 201w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul-686x1024.png 686w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul.png 711w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 201px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 201\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-71517\" class=\"wp-image-71517 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul-201x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul-201x300.png 201w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul-686x1024.png 686w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/koshersoul.png 711w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-71517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Twitty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAmerican Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York,\u201d by Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, won for best book in American Jewish studies.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Freedland won the Biography Award and Holocaust Award for \u201cThe Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World,\u201d about Rudolf Vrba, whose eyewitness report of the death camp was largely ignored by the various allied government officials who read it. Kenneth B. Moss\u2019 \u201cAn Unchosen People: Jewish Political Reckoning in Interwar Poland,\u201d won the Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award in history.<\/p>\n<p>Danya Ruttenberg\u2019s \u201cOn Repentance and Repair,\u201d a rabbi\u2019s rumination on apologies and forgiveness in contemporary culture, won the Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice Award.<\/p>\n<p>The council also honored Ellen Frankel, who served as the editor in chief and CEO of the Jewish Publication Society for 18 years, with its Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel \u2014 given in honor of the council\u2019s longtime director, who retired in 2014. Frankel, who herself stepped down in 2009, was cited for mentoring authors, staff and students at the Philadelphia-based publisher, as well as championing women scholars.<\/p>\n<p>Other winners include:<\/p>\n<p>The inaugural Hebrew Fiction in Translation Jane Weitzman Award: Mayan Eitan, \u201cLove\u201d (self-translated)<\/p>\n<p>Children\u2019s Picture Book Tracy and Larry Brown Family Award: Shoshana Nambi, \u201cThe Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda,\u201d illustrated by Moran Yogev<\/p>\n<p>Young Adult Literature Award: Susan Wider, \u201cIt\u2019s My Whole Life: Charlotte Salomon: An Artist in Hiding During World War II\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Middle Grade Literature Award: Stacy Nockowitz, \u201cThe Prince of Steel Pier\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award for Food Writing and Cookbooks: Benedetta Jasmine Guetta, \u201cCooking alla Giudia\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Berru Poetry Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash: Sean Singer, \u201cToday in the Taxi\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The complete list of the 72nd National Jewish Book Award winners and finalists can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jewishbookcouncil.org\/pb-daily\/72nd-national-jewish-book-award-winners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Michael%20Twitty%E2%80%99s%20%E2%80%98Koshersoul%2C%E2%80%99%20a%20memoir%20of%20food%20and%20identity%2C%20named%20Jewish%20book%20of%20the%20year\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":42732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7135],"tags":[8790,8795,12851,12850,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71518,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71516\/revisions\/71518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}