Jewish Book Council

<p>The Jewish Book Council’s origins date back to 1925, making it one of the oldest organizations providing continual service to the American Jewish community. </p>

<p>It all began when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, set up an exhibit of Judaic books and used it as a focus of what she called Jewish Book Week. In 1927, Jewish communities around the country adopted the event.

For its first fifteen years, the celebration of Jewish Book Week coincided with the holiday of Shavuot, traditionally regarded as a scholars’ festival. In 1940, the event was moved to the pre-Hanukkah period to promote books of Jewish content as Hanukkah gifts. This tradition has remained in place to this day. The year 1940 also saw the founding of the National Committee for Jewish Book Week, with Fanny Goldstein as its chairperson.

Jewish Book Week activities proliferated and, in 1943, the event was extended to a one-month period. Following this decision, the National Committee for Jewish Book Week became the Jewish Book Council in 1944, reflecting its broader scope. The following year, the National Jewish Welfare Board — which would ultimately become the Jewish Community Centers Association — entered into an agreement with Jewish Book Council to become its official sponsor and coordinating organization, providing financial support and organizational assistance. This arrangement reflected the realization that local JCCs were the primary site of community book fairs, which are a major event on the American Jewish calendar. While under the auspices of the JCC Association, the Jewish Book Council maintained an executive board, composed of representatives from major American Jewish organizations and leading figures in the literary world.</p>

<p>On January 1, 1994, convinced that the Jewish Book Council remained essential to the “people of the book,” the Council’s Executive Board voted to create an independent entity, and Jewish Book Council became a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation. Since then, many programs have been added, including the JBC Network in 1999, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in 2006, and Paper Brigade literary journal in 2015.</p>

<p>The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: המועצה למען הספר היהודי באמריקה) founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of quality English language books of Jewish content in North America". The council sponsors the National Jewish Book Awards, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, the JBC Network, JBC Book Clubs, the Visiting Scribe series, and Jewish Book Month. It publishes an annual literary journal called Paper Brigade.</p>

<p>As of January 1, 1994 the Jewish Book Council broke off from the JCC Association and became an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation chartered in the State of New York. Its primary support is from individuals, and from organizations and foundations in the Jewish community.</p>

<p>The Council's origins date back to 1925, when Fanny Goldstein, a librarian at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, set up an exhibit of Judaic books as a focus of what she called Jewish Book Week. In 1927, with the assistance of Rabbi S. Felix Mendelsohn of Chicago, Jewish communities around the country adopted the event.</p>

<p>Jewish Book Week proved so successful that in 1940 the National Committee for Jewish Book Week was founded, with Fanny Goldstein as its chairperson. Dr. Mordecai Soltes succeeded her one-year later. Representatives of major American Jewish organizations served on this committee, as did groups interested in promulgating Yiddish and Hebrew literature.</p>

<p>Jewish Book Week activities proliferated and were extended to a one-month period in 1943. At the same time, the National Committee for Jewish Book Week became the Jewish Book Council, reflecting its broader scope. In March of the following year, the National Jewish Welfare Board, which would ultimately become the Jewish Community Centers Association, entered into an agreement with the Book Council to become its official sponsor and coordinating organization, providing financial support and organizational assistance. This arrangement reflected the realization that local JCCs were the primary site of community book fairs.</p>

<p>While under the auspices of JCC association, the Jewish Book Council maintained an executive board, composed of representatives from major American Jewish organizations and leading figures in the literary world.</p>

<p>From 1942 through 1999, the council published an annual journal called the Jewish Book Annual. The journal reflected on "the year’s events, figures, works, and community interests impacting Jewish literature and literacy." In 1999, the journal transformed into the Jewish Book World, a quarterly magazine that was published through 2015.</p>

<p>On January 1, 1994, the Jewish Book Council became an autonomous organization. Convinced that the Jewish Book Council remained essential to the People of the Book, the Council's executive board voted to create an independent entity. The new organization is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation chartered in the State of New York. It is supported, to a large degree, by dedicated and interested individuals and foundations in the Jewish community.</p>

<p>Jewish Book Council's annual literary magazine, Paper Brigade, is named in honor of the group of writers and intellectuals in the Vilna Ghetto who rescued thousands of Jewish books and documents from Nazi destruction. Each issue provides a 200-page snapshot of the Jewish literary landscape in America and abroad, including essays, fiction, poetry, and visual arts.</p>

<p>JBC helps book clubs find reading material and discussion questions, whether the book club is formal or informal; social or educational; interested in reading only books of Jewish content, just a few Jewish books throughout the year, or good literature that happens to have Jewish themes.</p>

<p>The National Jewish Book Awards is the longest-running North American awards program of its kind in the field of Jewish literature and is recognized as the most prestigious. The awards, presented by category, are designed to give recognition to outstanding books, to stimulate writers to further literary creativity and to encourage the reading of worthwhile titles.</p>

<p>The National Jewish Book Awards program began in 1950 when the Jewish Book Council presented awards to authors of Jewish books at its annual meeting. The first book awarded the prize was Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Among the past notable literary winners are Sonia Levitin, Howard Fast, Chaim Grade, Samuel Heilman, John Hersey, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, Chaim Potok, Arthur A. Cohen, Philip Roth, I.B. Singer, Michael Chabon, Lauren Belfer, and Elie Wiesel.</p>

<p>In addition to the category awards, every year since 2002, one non-fiction book has been selected as the winner of the Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year Award. The last winner was Daniel Gordis. With such prominent, influential thinkers participating in the program, the awards have a significant impact on American Jewish cultural life.</p>

<p>The JBC Network is a membership organization of over 120 participating sites, JCCs, synagogues, Hillels, Jewish Federations and other related organizations that host Jewish book programs. Through the Network, the Jewish Book Council is able to provide extensive resources to the program coordinators, including introduction to authors interested in touring Jewish book festivals, advice from experts on topics that affect a book program, and a chance to learn from the experiences of others in the field.</p>

<p>Jewish books are an essential part of Jewish culture. Programming for Jewish book events is a vital component. In recent years, the Jewish book festivals have grown into a $3 million industry. The Jewish Book Network goes a long way towards assisting in the preparation of successful events and connecting authors of Jewish interest books with the coordinators of these programs.</p>

<p>The Jewish Book Council formed the JBC Network in 1999 to serve as a central address for book programming. It functions on a year-round basis, although the primary focus remains on the Fall Jewish Book Month season. The Jewish Book Council assists with program suggestions and coordinates the speaking tours of more than 260 authors who travel country-wide during the Fall season and throughout the year. The Jewish Book Council annually prepares a book providing information about the authors on tour.</p>

<p>Each year the Jewish Book Council sponsors a conference for all JBC Network members and their lay leaders in conjunction with the annual BookExpo America. This conference begins the new season of book festival planning. In addition to workshops and networking among the Network members, the annual conference includes a program called Meet the Author. Through this event, authors are invited to speak to the members of the JBC Network in the hopes of touring and visiting with the Jewish book programs that are represented. Among the authors who were sponsored in the past are Warren Bass, Rich Cohen, Nathan Englander, Samuel G. Freedman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Myla Goldberg, Ari L. Goldman, Rabbi Irving Greenberg, Dara Horn, David Horowitz, Dr. Eric Kandel, Nicole Krauss, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Aaron Lansky, Daniel Libeskind, Tova Mirvis, Dr. Deborah Dash Moore, Judea Pearl, Naomi Ragen, Nessa Rapoport, Shulamit Reinharz, Steven V. Roberts, Jonathan Rosen, Ambassador Dennis Ross, and Dr. Jonathan Sarna.<p>

<p>Sami Rohr Prize</p>
<p>This is an annual $100,000 prize awarded to the finest works of Jewish interest. Established in 2006 by Sami Rohr's descendants on his 80th birthday, it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world. It alternates between fiction and non-fiction.</p>

Jewish Book Council, founded in 1944, is the longest-running organization devoted exclusively to the support and celebration of Jewish literature. For over seventy years, we have used literature to bring people together for meaningful discussions around Jewish life, identity, and culture. Jewish learning embodied in the printed word has played a crucial role in the development and strengthening of Jewish communities throughout the world. Jewish Book Council is proud to carry on this important tradition.