Online Event Today with Adam Kirsch!

[Jewish Literary Foundation]

https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/

May 28, 2025


ENJOYING THE NEW JLF PLAYER?

Our new JLF player is now in full swing with a wealth of videos to enjoy.

And what’s more? This is just the start.

Covering topical events to celebrations, commemorations, and book launches, our weekly releases will help you stay abreast of the best in Jewish culture.

Read on to explore this week’s new releases.

THE Z WORD: RECLAIMING ZIONISM

Join our Online Event TODAY

The challenge for Jews today is not merely to counter attempts to distort  the meaning and origins of Zionism. The Jewish people, as Adam Kirsch argues, do not need to defend the term – they need to reclaim it.

Join this vital event with Adam as he discusses his ground breaking essay in conversation with Adam Taub - taking place today at 5pm GMT, in partnership with Lockdown University and the Jewish Quarterly.

Can’t make it? Don’t worry. We’ll release the full event on our JLF Player soon.
Join this free event (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/events/the-z-word-reclaiming-zionism)


** JLF PLAYER: NEW RELEASES
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William Klein in conversation with Alan Yentob (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/william-klein-in-conversation-with-alan-yentob)

The influential artist, known for his evocative street photography, pioneering fashion photography and experimental filmmaking, discusses his career and life with Alan Yentob.

Remembering Alan Yentob’s legacy following his recent passing.
Who Wants to be a Jewish Writer? (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/who-wants-to-be-a-jewish-writer)

With Adam Kirsch and David Herman

Adam explores the definition of Jewish literature and the relationship between poetry and politics, delving into his stunning collection of essays on poetry, religion, and the intersections between them.

Our Book of the Week recommendation - see below
Sarra Copia: A Locked in Life (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/sarra-copia-a-locked-in-life)

With Nancy Ludmerer

Confined in the Venetian ghetto from 1592, Sarra Copia was renowned for her poetry, generosity and beauty. Nancy reimagines Sarra’s life and her strong but often troubled connections with the wider Christian world.

>From our latest JBW festival
EXPLORE OUR NEW JLF PLAYER (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/jlf-player)


** BOOK OF THE WEEK
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Who Wants to be a Jewish Writer?

By Adam Kirsch

Watch on our new JLF Player

What is it about?

A collection of essays in which esteemed literary critic and poet Adam Kirsch expertly writes about Jewish literature, the relationship between poetry and politics, and the future of literary reputation in the age of the internet. From examining questions of spirituality and morality, to asking why so many writers have resisted being defined as ‘Jewish writers’, this is a masterful examination of the complex relationship between religion and literature.

Why do we love it?

It reminds us that the question ‘Who Wants to be a Jewish Writer?’ still matters - and that the answer, however complex, is worth pursuing. With his trademark brilliance, clarity and quiet authority, Adam Kirsch treats Jewish writing not as a problem to be solved, but as a tradition to think with. The result is a rich, serious, and profoundly Jewish book.

Listen to Adam Kirsch  discussing this book on our new JLF Player here (https://jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk/videos/who-wants-to-be-a-jewish-writer)

A poem from the author:

Now that no one looking

Now that no one looking at the night—

Sky blanked by leakage from electric lamps

And headlights prowling through the parking lot

Could recognize the Babylonian dance

That once held every gazer; now that spoons

And scales, and swordsmen battling with beasts

Have decomposed into a few stars strewn

Illegibly across an empty space,

Maybe the old unfalsifiable

Predictions and extrapolated spheres

No longer need to be an obstacle

To hearing what it is the stars declare:

That there are things created of a size

We can't and weren't meant to understand,

As fish know nothing of the sun that writes

Its bright glyphs on the black waves overhead.
I WANT TO READ THIS (https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300240139/who-wants-to-be-a-jewish-writer/)

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