Bruce Rutledge and Yuko Enomoto founded Chin Music Press in 2002 while living in Tokyo. At the time, media conglomerates were swallowing up publishing companies, greatly reducing the opportunities for risky books to get into print. The time was ripe for small presses to fill the gap, especially with contemporary and edgy literature from Japan. … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Chin Music Press
This novel is inspired by a true historical event. Before Theodore Herzl there was Mordecai Manuel Noah, an American journalist, diplomat, playwright, and visionary. In September 1825 he bought Grand Island, downriver from Niagara Falls, from the local Native Americans as a place of refuge for the Jewish people and called it “Ararat.” But no … Continue reading Title Pick: Isra Isle by Nava Semel
I believe that this poem may be read without notes, but nonetheless I’ve provided a brief historical one below. “Postcard from the Hebron Area” was written at the end of the 20th century in Hebrew by Israeli poet Tuvia Ruebner, who was born in Slovakia in 1924, and escaped to Mandatory Palestine in 1941, managing … Continue reading Excerpt: Late Beauty by Tuvia Ruebner
A SMALL ERROR IN THE MACHINE When the Nazis came they were quite polite. The father was a known figure, at least to them, the Italian mother was no problem, they only wished to verify a few minor details. That's all, according to protocol. They entered the flat, didn't even presume to sit down. However, … Continue reading Excerpt: Poets on the Edge: An Anthology of Contemporary Hebrew Poetry
We may not have a ton of Hebrew speculative fiction in English translation (SFT) (or Hebrew sf at all), but what we do have shows the diverse and highly-imaginative ways in which Hebrew-language writers explore the complexities of ethnicity, religion, and the State of Israel. From horrifying dystopias to meditations on mysticism and fantasy literature, … Continue reading Hebrew Speculative Fiction in Translation
Orenda Books is a British-based publishing house that publishes literary and crime fiction. The London-based publisher was established in 2014 and publishes debut and existing authors including Ragnar Jónasson, Thomas Enger, Michael Grothaus, Gunnar Staalesen, and Kati Hiekkapelto. In its first year of operations Orenda published six titles, increasing that to sixteen titles in its … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Orenda Books
Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Language offers an incomparable lens into the transnational exchanges between Spanish politician, Ángel Pulido, and a handful of prominent Spanish Jews across Eastern Europe and Turkey. Pulido's acquaintances, whom he met during his travels in the Balkans, were the descendants of the exiled Spanish Jews of the infamous 1493 Inquisition. … Continue reading Review: Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Language by Ángel Pulido
The Three Old Ladies’ Tea opens with a young man appearing at a tram stop in the middle of the night, where he begins undressing before collapsing into a coma-like state, all while a policeman looks on uncomprehendingly. And in these opening paragraphs, we find the template by which Friedrich Glauser will continue to draw … Continue reading Review: The Three Old Ladies’ Tea by Friedrich Glauser
THE JOURNEY “Travel is a sort of door through which one exits reality into an unexplored world that seems like a dream.” - Guy de Maupassant I had dreamt of visiting New York for years. I have always loved travelling and on earlier trips across the Atlantic I’d visited a number of cities, such as … Continue reading Excerpt: The Monk with No Past by Paolo Marrone
In mid-2002, a group of language professionals living in Japan began to discuss the need for a new kind of publisher—one that could serve readers in English and Japanese, with titles meant for both general and specialist markets. Reflecting the skills and interests of its founding directors, Kurodahan Press first offered books relating to Japan, … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Kurodahan Press
