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Who Are We? The European Jewish Publication Society is a charity which was founded in 1995 and has since assisted in the publication of many books of Jewish interest. What Do We Do? Essentially we provide grants to publishers up to £3000 if a publisher believes that a manuscript deserves to see the light of day, but is ambivalent about the financial investment. How Does It Work? The writer must first interest a publisher in the work. The publisher then submits the manuscript to the EJPS for appraisal. If the EJPS agrees to support the work, the publisher can apply for a grant of up to £3000 for both fiction and non-fiction and up to £1000 for poetry. Finally a contract is signed between the EJPS and the publisher. What is a Jewish Book? The term 'Jewish interest' is interpreted liberally and widely with the general proviso that it should be of interest to as large an audience as possible - both Jewish and non-Jewish. Works that are narrowly specialised and/or academic are less likely to be awarded a grant, but again it depends on the subject matter and each manuscript is considered on its merit. Which Books Have We Supported? The books have covered the entire spectrum of interests - from 'Jewish Carpets' to the Hebrew novel in Tsarist Russia, from a biography of Isaac Rosenberg to an anthology of Jewish womens' poetry since Biblical times. Some have sold out completely and there have been some excellent reviews in both the national and Jewish press. Others such as Ernest Levy's acclaimed Holocaust memoir 'Just One More Dance' would never have been published without the help of the EJPS. Fresh Poetry Public interest has been stimulated in poetry on Jewish themes through the work of the EJPS at a period when the number of poetry publishing houses has been decreasing dramatically. We recently supported 'Passionate Renewal', an anthology of Jewish Poetry in Britain since 1945. Other published poets include Chaim Lewis, Lotte Kramer and Wanda Barford. Translations Our European dimension has been enhanced in that we have also supported translations into and from English such as Gotz Aly's 'Endlosung' (from German) and Abraham Cohen's 'Everyman's Talmud' (into Czech)s. Hebrew Literature Savyon Liebrecht's 'Apples from the Desert' and a collection of contemporary Hebrew short stories 'Cherries in the Icebox' have also been supported. Later in 2002 a new bi-lingual edition of the poetry of the Hebrew national poet, Chaim Nachman Bialik will be published. Russia and Eastern Europe We are increasingly working with bone fide publishers to ensure the publication of important books of Jewish interest in Eastern Europe in native languages where emergent Jewish communities are eagerly attempting to reclaim their heritage after decades of intellectual and literary oppression. Emerging Literary Talent New Jewish writers have been given the opportunity to publish - Sonja Lyndon and Sylvia Paskin's collection 'The Slow Mirror' and we have not forgotten the past - Stanislav Brunstein's 'The Vanished Shtetl'. We also intend to launch a 'Library of Jewish Classics' this year with a bilingual edition of Bialik's Hebrew poetry. It is an extensive and wide-ranging list. A selection of reviews can be accessed via the 'Books' link on the left. We would be happy to hear from publishers who are considering appropriate manuscripts for publication.
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A Siteworks production
February 2002