Doubling Down on Israeli Writers and Jewish Stories

I was scrolling through Instagram yesterday, awash in heartbreaking posts on the anniversary of October 7, when I saw something beautiful. It was a post from L’Atelier, an Israeli furniture and home decor studio that we’ve featured here on GOLDA. 

“On the eve of October 7, I, like so many others, feel a weight on my chest that makes it hard to breathe,” L’Atelier founder Judith Nusimovici wrote. “Everyone finds their own way to cope. For one of my clients, part of that response was to begin lighting a Ner Neshama every Friday evening alongside her Shabbat candles.”

A Ner Neshama is a yahrzeit candle, lit to honor someone who died. This client wanted Judith to incorporate a few of them into an existing set of candlesticks. 

“After a few sketches and suggestions, we agreed on a design that would give the remembrance candle its own place while also allowing her to change the arrangement as she wished,” Judith explained. “The pieces are not fixed together, so they can be moved and arranged differently from one Erev Shabbat to another.”

The pieces are not fixed together. They can be moved and arranged differently.

I haven’t stopped thinking about those words. They speak so profoundly to something I think we’ve all felt viscerally over the past three years. But it’s also a reminder of the beauty and creativity that can be born of tragedy. 

There is perhaps nothing more Jewish than continuing to make art during dark times. Last year, to mark October 7, we published a list of our favorite Israeli artists and designers. This year we’re focusing on Israeli writers, and the networks that have sprung up to support and amplify Jewish voices. 

First, I check in with Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs, founder of Blueprint Literary, a new agency representing authors from Israel. And then, a look at the latest selection from Nu Reads, the book subscription series from the Jewish Book Council. 

I’ve known Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs since she worked in the Books section at the Wall Street Journal. Since then she’s made a name for herself as a literary agent, moving to Israel and representing some of the biggest names in Israeli literature. She just launched Blueprint Literary, an agency representing authors from Israel in the international market. She’s also the director of events at Bookhaus, the new English bookstore and cafe in Tel Aviv (I’m obsessed with their tote bag). 

I caught up with Jessica this week while she was attending the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Hi Jessica! Thank you for taking the time to chat with GOLDA. Where are you right now? 

I'm at the Frankfurt Book Fair. I've come here as a literary agent for my agency Blueprint, based in Tel Aviv. What I've learned, and this is a lesson I learn every single time I come, because I come from Tel Aviv, is that I'm either going to be met with lots of enthusiasm, some sort of vague disapproval or dislike, or sometimes even outright reluctance. And it's my job to make a plea on behalf of my clients that Israeli and Jewish stories are as vital today as they ever were. 

I'm always pleasantly surprised at the allies that I find at a fair like this, the people who want good stories just because they're good stories. And I will always have faith that the good story wins the day.

You’ve been representing Israeli authors for about a decade now. Can you share a little about what you’ve seen from your vantage point? 

When it comes to the publishing industry and reluctance around Jewish or Israeli writing, I'm generally reluctant to make grand statements about what motivates any particular choice. Publishing is an extremely subjective industry, and you never really know why a book is turned down. Sometimes it really is for a bad reason, and sometimes it's a commercial reason or a profit and loss calculation. When an editor buys a book, it's a commitment to the text and to the author. And sometimes if you just don't find the right match and you don't find someone who's motivated enough to take risks and really move mountains to champion a book, it just doesn't go through. 

I have found that there are ways to find success by meeting people and being on the ground and making connections and developing relationships of trust so that when you bring them something, they're ready and willing to look at it. So yes, there's been a lot of chatter. I certainly have taken note of it, but I'm also just looking for those tiny cracks to move in and make a difference.

What excites you about this space and this moment?

Finding a new idea, finding the right partners, reading a new writer—all of the things that made it exciting for the last 200 years of publishing are still the things that make it exciting today. And at the center of everything is always a good story. That's what motivates me. 

If I'm coming with a certain taste or a certain perspective or something that I love and then I get to convince someone else that it's amazing, and then they read it—it's like showing someone their new favorite movie or or their new favorite musician. It's this high of sharing art that connects us. And maybe that sounds a little bit cliché, but I'm always going to be excited about that. Do I have moments where I'm like, “crap, things aren't working, things are too slow, this is not going where I want it to go?” Yes, but that happens to everybody. I'd rather be in this space making my mistakes than anywhere else. 

What’s an Israeli book that you’re loving right now? 

Love and Other Enchantments by Masha Zur-Glozman. It came out in July with Union Square and Hachette, and it should be in every bookstore. This novel is like Outlander in the Holy Land. It's about a woman whose marriage is in trouble, who moves to this older Israeli town where there happen to be some Crusader ruins. She goes on a mushroom trip and ends up falling back in time. She meets a French Crusader knight and has this amazing love affair, and she has to learn how to go back and forth between these two time periods, and between her relationship with her husband and her relationship with Jean. It’s sexy and interesting and deep and just about what it means to love outside the bounds of what is usual, both in terms of your relationship and across time. It is stunning. I love this book. I will sing this book's praises till the cows come home.

You can check out more about Blueprint Literary here.

Nu Reads, the book subscription series from the Jewish Book Council, happens to be the presenting sponsor of our podcast GOLDA Girls, but even if it wasn’t I would still be telling you about it. (And since it is, you can use code NuGolda for a 15% discount when you subscribe.) I love Nu Reads because it’s an easy way to get great Jewish books curated by a team that knows what they’re doing. It’s also an important way to signal to the publishing industry that these stories have an audience.

The latest Nu Reads selection is the English translation of Ron Segal’s novel Delicate. The novel tells the story of Adam Schumacher, a Holocaust survivor who returns to Germany at the end of his life to chronicle his story as his memory fails. It’s beautifully written and raises important, challenging questions about memory and emotional truth.

Ron was born in Israel and now lives in Berlin with his family. I chatted with him from the teacher’s lounge at Berlin’s University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches creative writing. We discussed the book’s journey and also his own: what it’s like to live in the city his grandparents fled, and to raise children who are native Berliners, but speak German and Hebrew interchangeably.

You can listen to our conversation on GOLDA Girls on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Delicate got published in English thanks to a shidduch made by the Jewish Book Council. The book was originally published in Hebrew in 2010, and a German translation came out in 2014. A decade later, Ron commissioned an English translation and sent a bound manuscript to Naomi Firestone-Teeter, who runs the Jewish Book Council. Naomi loved the book, and connected Ron with Ayin Press, an independent Jewish publishing platform. Ayin Press is publishing the English translation of Delicate next spring. (Nu Reads subscribers are getting an early copy.) 

I wanted to talk to Naomi to learn a little more about how she helped bring Delicate to English readers, and what she’s building with Nu Reads. Here’s our conversation.

Naomi, I'm so impressed by everything you're doing at the Jewish Book Council. Can you tell me a little about what you've seen in the past year since launching Nu Reads?

More than anything, we have been blown away by how our community has shown up for Jewish authors. People understand that one of the most meaningful ways to support Jewish authors is to buy Jewish books. Today, 90 percent of books sell fewer than 2,000 copies. Reaching almost 2,500 subscribers in our first year sends an important message to publishers: there is a real audience and real demand for these books. 

We have subscribers in nearly every state and members born in every decade from the 1940s through the 2000s. Some want to build a virtual community, or the chance to connect with authors and fellow readers around the world. Others have used Nu Reads as the catalyst to start a book club. And many want to channel their support for Jewish authors into a program that directly supports their work and demonstrates demand for their stories. 

Authors and artists have embraced the community too. Portia Elan created an incredible ‘zine for our boxes. Adeena Sussman shared an apple cake recipe to help celebrate the launch of Allegra Goodman's new book. We've partnered with Jewish artists on tote bags, wrapping paper, and notebooks, and have offered subscribers exclusives, including an early release of Delicate. 

It has been energizing to see how these books have brought people together. We've hosted living room salons, bookstore events, and programs on public stages. We have partnered with Jewish institutions like The Weitzman Museum and JCC Manhattan, and literary spaces like Boston’s Hummingbird Books and the Miami Book Fair.

All the previous Nu Reads selections have been books that were already out in the world. But the Jewish Book Council was instrumental in getting Delicate published in English, and right now the book is available only to Nu Reads subscribers. Tell us how that happened.

We were thrilled to partner with Ayin Press, a longtime friend of the Jewish Book Council, to bring Delicate to English-speaking readers. We're always in conversation with our friends in publishing about the remarkable authors and stories that cross our desks. 

When we first read Delicate, we saw its potential for our Nu Reads subscribers: it is written by an energetic and inspiring author, takes on a deeply Jewish subject, and offered a unique opportunity for the publisher to bring the book to life in English to a built-in readership. 

This is one of the most exciting parts about Nu Reads: we are not just introducing readers to great Jewish books, but we are also helping to create the conditions for a book to be published in the first place. 

What can the story of this book's long journey to getting published in English tell us about the broader landscape of publishing today?

On a good day, it's very difficult to get a book published, and books in translation face an even steeper climb. Ron's story reflects some of the broader challenges in the publishing industry, particularly the pressure on books that are perceived as serving specific audiences to have a built-in readership. Today's climate is particularly challenging for these kinds of stories and ideas. Delicate’s journey to English-speaking readers highlights what can happen when a publisher has both a compelling book and an audience ready to support it. These two factors make it much easier to bring a book to life. 

Are there any other books, new or old, that you'd love to help get published in English? Let's manifest!

I'd love to manifest whole categories! I want to read the great novels that were written in Ladino and never translated. I want more books by Mizrahi and Sephardic writers. And I want to read emerging contemporary writers publishing in Hebrew in Israel today. There's a whole world of Jewish literature that English-language readers haven't yet been able to access, and Nu Reads has shown there's an audience eager for these stories. So if you're a publisher or translator sitting on one of these books, call us.

What is one takeaway, from your vantage point, about the state of Jewish storytelling today?  

This is a fertile and charged moment for Jewish books. Incredible work is being created by storytellers who are writing with urgency and range. In this moment, the Jewish Book Council’s role is to encourage these authors, ensure publishers–from independent presses to the Big 5–have visibility into these rich and diverse stories, and to build an audience that's ready to receive them. 

Nu Reads has opened readers’ eyes about the variety of Jewish storytelling and storytellers today. Every Nu Reads subscription helps us make a stronger case to publishers that Jewish stories have readers who want to enthusiastically support them. 

Our early success has proven that Jewish stories have a huge readership — and we’re just getting started.

Here is where I remind you that you can get 15% off your Nu Reads subscription with code NuGolda—and look out for Delicate in your mailbox.

Let me know what you’ve been reading lately, and the Jewish and Israeli authors we should all know about.

Stay GOLDA,

Stephanie