NEW YORK – The Jewish Book Council has announced the winners of the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards. They include Pamela S. Nadell, recipient of the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year for America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today; and Robert Alter, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for his monumental and decades-long project The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary.

The inaugural Jane and Stuart Weitzman Family Award for Food Writing and Cookbooks goes to Jewish Cuisine in Hungary: A Cultural History with 83 Authentic Recipes by András Koerner. 

Top fiction honors have been given to novels written by authors receiving their first National Jewish Book Awards, including: Fly Already: Stories by Etgar Keret, Alice Hoffman’s The World That We Knew, and Sarah Blake’s Naamah. 

Two authors were recognized for their timely works focusing on antisemitism, including: Deborah Lipstadt for her work Antisemitism: Here and Now, and Bari Weiss for How to Fight Anti-Semitism.

Other winners included: 

Dani Shapiro for Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. 

David E. Lowe for Touched with Fire: Morris B. Abram and the Battle against Racial and Religious Discrimination. 

Michael Dobbs for The Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a Village Caught In Between. 

Daniel Okrent for The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America.

Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky wins the Berru Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash in the Poetry category.

In the Children’s Literature category, the winner is Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story written by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Amy June Bates. Rachel DeWoskin is awarded the Young Adult Award for her book Someday We Will Fly.

The Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel is presented to Dena W. Neusner in honor of her mentorship of authors, artists, and publishing professionals throughout her career. Ms. Neusner has worked with a wide spectrum of books in the field, including children’s books, Jewish textbooks, and Haggadot. Additionally, under her leadership, Behrman House Publishers developed a new imprint, Apples & Honey Press, specifically focused on Jewish children’s books, which allowed her to help expand the field and have a new outlet to nurture Jewish literary talent. We are proud to honor her continued contributions to the field of Jewish literature.

The National Jewish Book Awards were established by the Jewish Book Council in 1950 in order to recognize outstanding works of Jewish literature. It is the longest-running awards program of its kind. A complete list of award winners and finalists can be found at www​.Jew​ish​Book​Coun​cil​.org. 

The winners of the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards will be honored on March 17, at an dinner and ceremony to be held at Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan.

For ticket information, visit njba​.gives​mart​.com.