Israel in Translation

In April, we kicked off a series of conversations with translators of texts featured on this podcast. Today, host Marcella Sulak interviews Michael Kramer for the second installment. He teaches in the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University. He has authored and edited numerous books and essays on Jewish and American literature and has also translated S. Y. Agnon's "And The Crooked Shall Be Made Straight."

Previous episodes: Sitting with Strangeness: A Conversation with Adriana X. Jacobs on Translating theIsraeli-Vietnamese Poet Van Nguyen And the Crooked Shall be Made Straight

Poet, writer, and editor Ya'ara Shehori was awarded the Fulbright International Writing Program and is, as we speak, participating in the International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa. This means that part of her latest novel, "Aquarium," has been translated into English by Maayan Eitan.

Interview with Ya'ara Shehori

Tomorrow is the last day of the 2017 high holiday season, which began with Rosh Hashanah and ends with sukkot and Simchat Torah. This year, host Marcela Sulak wraps up the holidays with a selection of poetry from various poets.

Text: "On the Eve of the Holiday," by Hava Pinhas-Cohen, translated by Sharon Hart-Green, in "Bridging the Divide." Syracuse University Press, 2015.

"The Illustrated Bible," by Meir Wieseltier, translated by Shirley Kaufman with the author, in "The Flower of Anarchy: Selected Poems." University of California Press, 2003.

Music: Dunet by The Bridge Project

This past Shabbat was also Yom Kippur, which is the writer Etgar Keret's favorite holiday. This week, host Marcela Sulak reads his piece, "Swede Dreams," originally published in The Tablet, and which you can find in his memoir, "The Seven Good Years," translated by Sondra Sondra Silverston. It is about Keret's 2009 visit to Sweden, just before Yom Kippur.

Here is an excerpt:

The Swedes listened and were fascinated. The thought of a day on which no motorized vehicles drive through the cities, people walk around without their wallets and all the stores are closed, a day on which there are no TV broadcasts or even updates on websites–all sounded to them like an innovative Naomi Klein concept and not like an ancient Jewish holiday.

Text: Etgar Keret, "Swede Dreams," in "The Seven Good Years: A Memoir." Translated by Sondra Silverston, Miriam Shlesinger, Jessica Cohen, and Anthony Berris. New York: Riverhead Books, 2015.

Host Marcela Sulak's daughter, Amalia, gives her top three children's book recommendations for the holidays.