Two IUP books win National Jewish Book Awards

We are pleased to announce that two of our books are recipients of 2015 National Jewish Book Awards from the Jewish Book Council!

Alice Nakhimovsky and Roberta Newman’s Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals from Russia and America won in the Anthologies and Collections category. This book delves into the letters, essays and annotations of 20th-century Jewish families that could only keep in touch through written word. Correspondence was a challenge for some Jews that were not used to writing out their feelings and thoughts, thus Yiddish-language books of model letters became their templates and handbooks to communicate with their loved ones.

The winner of the Sephardic Culture category was author David A. Wacks's book Double Diaspora in Sephardic Literature: Jewish Cultural Production Before and After 1492. Wacks examines the works of Sephardic writers from the 13th to 16th centuries based on the study of two Sephardic diasporas—first from Biblical Zion and later from the hostland, Sefarad. Wacks brings Diaspora Studies into conversation with medieval and early modern Sephardic literature for the first time.

Our book Jews and Islamic Law in Early 20th Century Yemen by Mark S. Wagner was also a finalist in the Sephardic Culture category.

Winners will be honored on March 9 at a gala to be held at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. Congratulations to all our winners and finalists!

See the full list of National Jewish Book Award winners and finalists here.