Passover books for one kid — or many

April 22, 2016

By PENNY SCHWARTZ

(JTA) — Afikomen hunts, a rambunctious pup and the catchy classic “Dayenu.” All are featured in a half-dozen new Passover books for children that will inform and entertain even the littlest kid — or a whole herd of...

Author Imre Kertesz, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, dies at 86

April 01, 2016

(JTA) — Imre Kertesz, a Holocaust survivor who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, has died.

Kertesz, who portrayed the horrors of Auschwitz in some of his writings, died Thursday at his Budapest home, said his publisher, the Magyeto Kiado...

Dennis Ross, Shulem Deen among National Jewish Book Awards winners

January 14, 2016

(JTA) — Dennis Ross, a former top U.S. official, and Shulem Deen, who wrote about leaving the Hasidic world, were among the winners of 2015 National Jewish Book Awards.

“Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle For Israel, 1917-1947,” a book by Bruce...

Canadian court to hear $3 million case over disputed Holocaust memoir

January 11, 2016

(JTA) – The Federal Court of Canada will consider a lawsuit filed by three filmmakers alleging that a Canadian author and her publisher plagiarized a family history presented in their documentary.

Judy Maltz, an Israeli-American journalist, along with Barbara Bird...

Amos Oz to receive South Korean literary award

October 02, 2015

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz will receive South Korea’s most prestigious literary award.

Oz, 76, will receive the Park Kyong-ni prize later this month in South Korea, according to Haaretz. While there, Oz is expected to...

Best-selling novelist Jackie Collins dies at 77

September 20, 2015

(JTA) — Jackie Collins, whose steamy novels sold more than 500 million copies, has died following a six-year battle with breast cancer that she never divulged to the public.

Collins, the daughter of a Jewish father and an Anglican mother,...

Oliver Sacks, neurologist and ‘Awakenings’ author, dies at 82

August 30, 2015

(JTA) — Dr. Oliver Sacks, a noted neurologist and the best-selling author of “Awakenings,” has died.

Sacks died Sunday of cancer at his home in New York City, according to The New York Times. He was 82.

He gained prominence...

Novel about Nazi-Jewish affair roils romance literature world

August 11, 2015

By BRIAN SCHAEFER

(JTA) — German thinker Theodor Adorno famously stated that it’s barbaric to write poetry after Auschwitz — but he said nothing about romance novels.

For author Kate Breslin, the Holocaust apparently provided just the right amount of...

Scott Cowen’s ‘Invevitable City’ is released in paperback

August 04, 2015

Scott Cowen’s “The Inevitable City: The Resurgence of New Orleans and the Future of Urban America” will be released today in paperback form at all area bookstores.

Cowen, who was the subject of an exclusive CCJN interview in 2014, served...

REVIEW: Bronston’s ‘Walking New Orleans’ a welcome companion

June 24, 2015

By ALAN SMASON

Walking New Orleans by Barri Bronston (Wilderness Press, 2015) 238 pgs. Photographs by Donna Goldenberg and Barri Bronston. $18.95.

With an emphasis on being environmentally sensitive and as a means of promoting healthy living alternatives, “Walking New...