{"id":74421,"date":"2023-05-05T08:26:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T13:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=74421"},"modified":"2023-05-05T08:26:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T13:26:19","slug":"in-a-first-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature-goes-to-hebrew-language-author-and-translator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/in-a-first-sami-rohr-prize-for-jewish-literature-goes-to-hebrew-language-author-and-translator\/","title":{"rendered":"In a first, Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature goes to Hebrew-language author and translator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By GABE FRIEDMAN<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 For the first time, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature was given to the author of a book in Hebrew and its translator, in a sign of the award organization\u2019s desire to expand the prize to non-English language works.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_74422\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74422\" class=\"wp-image-74422 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-1024x718.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-768x538.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1.jpg 1100w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/210;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74422\" class=\"wp-image-74422 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-1024x718.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1-768x538.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Iddo-Gefen-credit-Uri-Barkat1.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-74422\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Author Iddo Gefen, 2023 recipient of Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.&nbsp; (Photo by Uri Barkat)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cJerusalem Beach,\u201d a book of short stories that draws on Israeli author Iddo Gefen\u2019s background as a neurocognitive researcher, won the prize, which alternates between honoring fiction and non-fiction works each year. The book\u2019s translator, Daniella Zamir, was also honored as the first translation winner in the prize\u2019s history and will receive 25% of the $100,000 prize money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe awarding of and honoring works in translation, not just Hebrew \u2014 because one of our finalists is also the author of a book that is translated from Polish to English \u2014 that is a new dimension of the prize,\u201d said Debra Goldberg, director of the prize organization, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The prize, previously award in association with the Jewish Book Council based in New York, is now administered by the National Library of Israel. But Goldberg emphasized that the choice of a work of Hebrew \u201cis not connected necessarily with our association with the library, it was something that we decided independently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was important to expand the reach of the prize, and concomitantly and consequentially the reach of these books,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She added that the prize will not consider books that have not been translated into English.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_74423\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74423\" class=\"wp-image-74423 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 200\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74423\" class=\"wp-image-74423 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Jerusalem-Beach1.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-74423\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#8220;Jerusalem Beach&#8221; was translated from Hebrew by Daniella Zamir.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gefen, born in 1992, is a Ph.D. student in cognitive psychology at Columbia University. At its Zuckerman Institute for Neuroscience, he researches how storytelling can improve understanding of the human mind. A reviewer wrote that the 13 stories in his collection cover \u201cvir\u00adtu\u00adal real\u00adi\u00adties, the Mid\u00addle East, and the fur\u00adthest reach\u00ades of the solar sys\u00adtem.\u201d A description from its publisher called the book a group of \u201csnapshots of contemporary life in Israel\u201d for fans of Etgar Keret.<\/p>\n<p>Gefen was previously a fellow in the National Library of Israel\u2019s Pardes: Literary Incubator program. Goldberg said that fact \u201ctruly has nothing to do with the fact that he won the prize and we\u2019re associated with the library.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prize was established in 2006 by the family of Jewish philanthropist Sami Rohr and first bestowed an award in 2007. Past winners have ranged from Gal Beckerman\u2019s \u201cWhen They Come for Us, We\u2019ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry\u201d to Francesca Segal\u2019s novel \u201cThe Innocents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s finalists include \u201cThe Lost Shtetl\u201d by New Yorker Max Gross, \u201cI\u2019d Like to Say Sorry, But There\u2019s No One to Say Sorry To\u201d by the Polish-Jewish writer Miko\u0142aj Grynberg and \u201cThe Book of V.\u201d by Anna Solomon, who lives in Brooklyn. The authors and translators will be honored at a ceremony on Aug. 9 at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.<\/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=\"In%20a%20first%2C%20Sami%20Rohr%20Prize%20for%20Jewish%20Literature%20goes%20to%20Hebrew-language%20author%20and%20translator\";<\/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":74422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7135],"tags":[13075,13076,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74421"}],"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=74421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74424,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74421\/revisions\/74424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}