Every year, the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award committee scours the book world for books with significant Jewish content. They look for extra-ordinary writing, accurate depictions of Jewish life in all its diversity, and contributions to the field of Jewish literature. This month I am excited to speak with Rena Citrin about the lastest winners of this award.

See the 2025 press release.

Winner: Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari (Random House, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC)

Honor: The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad, translated by Jessica Cohen (New Vessel Press)

Honor: Displaced Persons: Stories by Joan Leegant (New American Press)

Honor: Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore (Dell, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC)

Follow along with the transcript.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.