FROM: THE SAMI ROHR PRIZE FOR JEWISH LITERATURE
520 Eighth Ave.-4th floor
New York, NY 10018
CONTACT: Geri Gindea, Director, 212-786-5158/
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
CONTACT: Rubenstein Associates, Inc.
Martta Rose, 212-843-8020/ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WRITER TAMAR YELLIN WINS $100,000 IN JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL'S
INAUGURAL SAMI ROHR PRIZE FOR JEWISH LITERATURE
***
Winner and Two Runners Up Hail >From Three Countries
New York, NY (March 21, 2007) -The Jewish Book Council, administrator
of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature, announced today that
Tamar Yellin of England, author of The Genizah at the House of
Shepher (Toby Press), is the first recipient of the $100,000 Sami
Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, the largest-ever Jewish literary
prize given, and one of the largest literary prizes in the nation.
The two runner-up awardees, who will receive the Choice Award and
will each receive $7,500, are Amir Gutfreund, author of Our Holocaust
(Toby Press, translated by Jessica Cohen), from Israel, and Michael
Lavigne, author of Not Me (Random House), from San Francisco. All
three winning authors will be celebrated at a gala event to be held
May 21 in Manhattan.
"This was a tremendously difficult and rewarding process as all five
finalists were extraordinarily talented, each with a compelling story
to tell, and the talent to tell it well," said Geri Gindea, director
of the program, which operates as a department of the Jewish Book
Council. In making the selections, the judges considered the book,
the author and the writing's contribution to Jewish
literature. Reflecting on the choice of Tamar Yellin,
Rebecca Goldstein, novelist, professor of philosophy, a Fellow at
Harvard's Radcliffe Institute and one of the competition's five
judges, said, "Yellin combines formidable Jewish scholarship with
soaring lyricism. And, if scholarship and lyricism aren't enough,
she also displays a wonderfully quirky sense of humor. This is a
writer who can do it all, bring history lovingly into the present and
conjure an art of beauty and light out of the ardors of scholarship."
In addition to Goldstein, the judges, whose names were undisclosed
until today, are Jeremy Dauber, associate professor of Yiddish
language, literature & culture at Columbia University; Daisy Maryles,
executive editor, Publishers Weekly; Jonathan Rosen, novelist and
editorial director, Nextbook; and Ruth Wisse, professor of Yiddish
and comparative literature at Harvard University.
The Prize was established by Sami Rohr's children and grandchildren
to celebrate Mr. Rohr's 80th birthday--and to honor his lifelong love
of Jewish writing. The annual award will recognize the unique role
of contemporary writers in the transmission and examination of Jewish
values, and is intended to encourage and promote outstanding writing
of Jewish interest.
Each year, a prize of $100,000 will be presented to an emerging
writer whose work, of exceptional literary merit, stimulates an
interest in themes of Jewish concern.
In order to fully nurture quality Jewish writing, the Rohr family
will also establish-in conjunction with the Sami Rohr Prize-the Sami
Rohr Jewish Literary Institute, a forum devoted to the continuity of
Jewish literature. The Institute, also run under the auspices of the
Jewish Book Council, will convene a biennial gathering, creating an
environment in which established and emerging writers can meet and
exchange ideas and perspectives.
"Writers often express the desire to connect and share experiences
with other writers and the Institute will be an ideal forum for that
purpose," Gindea said. "Through the Institute, we hope to create a
literary community that will further inspire emerging writers to
continue creating Jewish literature."
Each year, an independent panel of judges will convene to select the
winner of the Prize and two Institute Fellows. Fiction and
non-fiction books will be considered in alternating years.
About Sami Rohr
After spending his early years in Europe after World War II, Sami
Rohr moved to Bogota, Colombia, where he became a leading real estate
developer for more than 30 years. He continues to be very active in
various business endeavors internationally. His philanthropic
commitment to Jewish education and community building throughout the
world is renowned.
# # #
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