FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2008
Lucette Lagnado Wins the $100,000
2008 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for her memoir:
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit:
My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World
Press Contact:
Adam Teeter, Publicist, 404-409-4103, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Geri Gindea, Director, Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature,
212-786-5158, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
New York, NY - The Jewish Book Council is pleased to announce Lucette
Lagnado as the recipient of the $100,000 2008 Sami Rohr Prize for
Jewish Literature. Lagnado wins the prize for her memoir The Man in
the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the
New World (HarperCollins/Ecco), a work that The New York Times Book
Review called "brilliant." Lagnado, a senior special writer and
investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was selected
based on her demonstration of a fresh vision and evidence of future
potential to further contribute to the Jewish literary community.
In the memoir, Lagnado chronicles her family's heartbreaking tale of
their exodus from Egypt and eventual resettling in Brooklyn. Through
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit, Lagnado has shed light on the
untold stories of the nearly one million Jewish refugees across the
Middle East, cast out from homelands they cherished and longed to
return to until their deaths.
Along with this prestigious award, the Jewish Book Council is also
pleased to announce the two recipients of the 2008 Sami Rohr Prize
for Jewish Literature Choice Award. The Choice Award is a monetary
award in the amount of $7,500. The two recipients of the 2008 Choice
Awards are:
Ilana M. Blumberg for Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books
(University of Nebraska Press)
Blumberg is Assistant Professor of Humanities at
James Madison College at Michigan State University.
Eric L. Goldstein for The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American
Identity(Princeton University Press) Goldstein is Associate Professor
of History and Jewish Studies at Emory University.
The presentation of the Sami Rohr Prize and the Choice Awards will be
held in April 2008 in Jerusalem.
A distinguished panel of judges was responsible for these
selections. The members of the panel, who remained anonymous until
this publication, are:
David Ellenson Author and President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).
Samuel G. Freedman Journalist, author and Professor at Columbia
University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Rela Mintz Geffen Professor of Sociology & Immediate Past President,
Baltimore Hebrew University.
Ari Goldman Religion journalist, author, and Professor of Journalism
at Columbia University.
Yossi Klein Halevi Author and Senior fellow in the Shalem Center's
Institute for Zionist History and Thought and the Israel
correspondent of the New Republic.
Deborah Lipstadt Author and Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and
Holocaust Studies at Emory University.
Nessa Rapoport Author and essayist.
Jonathan D. Sarna Author and Professor of American Jewish History at
Brandeis University and Director of its Hornstein Jewish Professional
Leadership Program.
Joseph Telushkin Author and public speaker.
The Sami Rohr Prize is the largest monetary prize of its kind in the
Jewish literary world, and one of the largest literary prizes
worldwide. In 2006, in celebration of Sami Rohr's 80th birthday, his
children and grandchildren inaugurated the Sami Rohr Prize to honor
his lifelong love of Jewish literature.
The inaugural Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature was awarded last
year to fiction writer Tamar Yellin for The Genizah at the House of
Shepher (Toby Press). The Prize considers fiction and non-fiction in
alternating years. The Prize honors an emerging author in the field
of Jewish literature who has written a book of exceptional literary
merit that stimulates an interest in themes of Jewish concern.
The finalists and judges - from this year's Prize as well as last
year's Prize - will meet together this summer at 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.
ABOUT SAMI ROHR:
After spending his early years in post WWII Europe, Sami Rohr moved
to Bogota, Colombia, where he was a leading real estate developer for
over 30 years. He currently lives in Florida and continues to be
very active in various business endeavors internationally. His
philanthropic commitment to Jewish education and community-building
throughout the world is renowned. This Prize is a gift by his family
to honor his love of Jewish writing, and to help encourage the
continuation of the magnificent legacy of the People of the Book.
ABOUT THE JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL:
The Jewish Book Council is a not-for-profit organization devoted
exclusively to the promotion of Jewish-interest literature. Through
an ever-growing list of projects and programs, including the National
Jewish Book Awards, the Jewish Book NETWORK, and the quarterly
publication Jewish Book World, the Jewish Book Council serves as a
catalyst for the reading, writing, and publishing of books of Jewish interest.
For more information about the Jewish Book Council and the Sami Rohr
Prize for Jewish Literature visit www.jewishbookcouncil.org
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
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