Novel

The Manhattan bookstore that wouldn't host her: Lihi Lapid on what October 7 did to Israeli authors

She landed every novelist's dream: a deal with HarperCollins, a Manhattan launch, a TV adaptation. Then May 2024 arrived, and not a single bookstore would have her.

Lihi Lapid on what October 7 did to Israeli authors
R.F. Kuang attends the Girls Write Now Awards 2024 at DVF Studio on Oct. 10, 2024, in New York City.

Backlash grows over Israeli character in R.F. Kuang’s upcoming novel 'Taipei Story'

The Irgun Museum in Tel Aviv.

'The Gavriel Tirosh Affair': Unforgettable teacher, lingering memory - review

From right: 2025 Sapir Prize debut winner Roni Partchek, honored for her novel “Sitara,” with Mifal HaPais CEO Adv. Beni Dreyfus, judging committee chair Dr. Ruth Calderon, Mifal HaPais board chair Itzik Lari, and 2025 Sapir Prize winner Amir Harash, awarded for “Bereavement and Failure and Zombies.

Amir Harash wins Sapir Prize for 2025; Roni Partchek takes debut award


John Irving's new novel follows a Jewish heroine across decades

John Irving’s Queen Esther follows an orphaned Jewish girl who becomes a family’s anchor, fights Nazis, and shapes Israel’s birth –while her son comes of age amid Vietnam and identity, love, and loss

Queen Esther by John Irving

Philip Roth’s flawed brilliance and its impact on Jewish identity - opinion

Philip Roth’s legacy continues to challenge and shape and challenge ideas of Jewish identity.

Philip Roth in 1967.

National Book Award in nonfiction goes to ‘One day, everyone will have always been against this'

“It’s very difficult to think in celebratory terms about a book that was written in response to a genocide,” El Akkad said in his acceptance speech.

Omar El Akkad attends the 76th National Book Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on November 19, 2025 in New York City.

Her Jewish grandfather’s shame inspired a prize-winning novel

Sasha Vasilyuk's debut novel, “Your Presence Is Mandatory,” won the $100,000 prize for a story inspired by her father’s father, a Jewish soldier in the Red Army.

Sasha Vasilyuk’s novel, "Your Presence Is Mandatory," was inspired by the story of her grand­fa­ther, right, a Sovi­et World War II sol­dier who nev­er talked about the war.

'The Last Baker of Vienna': A novel on displaced Jews in post-WWII Europe - review

Chana, the heroine of The Lost Baker of Vienna, gives voice to author Sharon Kurtzman’s feminist subtext.

CLASS PORTRAIT of school children at Schauenstein displaced persons (DP) camp, circa 1946.

Cruising through British history on the ‘Swan Hellenic Diana’

Swan Hellenic hasn’t yet announced the dates for its next “Spirit of the Celts” cruise but its “Iceland and British Isles” cruise in August 2026 will go to some of the same ports.

SLIABH LIAG Cliffs, Donegal, Ireland.

Review: Meet the woman who saved countless art masterpieces from the Nazis

Valland is the real-life heroine of “The Art Spy,” a curator at Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris in the 1940s.

 The other fresh element of “Art Spy” is that Young juxtaposes Rose’s story with that of wealthy-heir-turned-Allied-soldier Alexandre Rosenberg, whose Jewish family fled Paris and had their mammoth art collection ripped from the walls of their home.

Yuval Raphael's Eurovision rise echoes Elphaba's defiance in Wicked - opinion

Yuval Raphael defied gravity May 17 in much the same motif the fictional character, Elphaba in Wicked, has been defying gravity since 2003.

 YUVAL RAPHAEL and  Elphaba in ‘Wicked.’ Kindred spirits.

Author John Irving’s new novel, ‘Queen Esther,’ deals with Israel and antisemitism

'Queen Esther' follows a Jewish orphan's journey from Vienna to Maine to Jerusalem, marking his first work to directly engage with Israeli history through the story of a Holocaust refugee.

 The novelist John Irving is pictured in 2016; his new book "Queen Esther" will feature a Jewish character and be set in part in Israel.

Yossi Avni-Levy wins Sapir Prize for Literature

Avni-Levy will receive NIS 180,000 ($50,000) and his novel will be translated into Arabic and another language of his choosing, broadening its reach and fostering cross-cultural dialogue.

 FROM LEFT, winner of the 2024 Sapir Prize, Yossi Avni-Levy, Mifal Hapais chairman Avigdor Itzhaky, former president of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut, Mifal Hapais CEO Benjamin Dreyfus. and winner of the 2024 Sapir Prize for a debut book, Ayal Hayut-Man.