The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry

by Deborah Ager (Editor), M.E. Silverman (Editor)

With works by over 100 poets, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry celebrates contemporary writers, born after World War II , who write about Jewish themes.

This anthology brings together poets whose writings offer fascinating insight into Jewish cultural and religious topics and Jewish identity. Featuring established poets as well as representatives of the next generation of Jewish voices, it includes poems by Ellen Bass, Charles Bernstein, Carol V. Davis, Edward Hirsch, Jane Hirshfield, David Lehman, Jacqueline Osherow, Ira Sadoff, Philip Schultz, Alan
Shapiro, Jane Shore, Judith Skillman, Melissa Stein, Matthew Zapruder, and many others.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Deborah Ager founded 32 Poems in 2003. For seven years, she's edited and published the magazine with coeditor John Poch. Many poems first appearing in 32 Poems have been honored in the Best American Poetry and Best New Poets anthologies and on Verse Daily and Poetry Daily. 32 Poems is an independent journal funded by subscriptions. An interview with Ager, with poems read by poets published in 32 Poems, will air on NPR's Baltimore station.

Ager's first book, Midnight Voices, was published in 2009. Her writing appears in The Bloomsbury Review, New England Review, The Georgia Review, Quarterly West, New South, and elsewhere. She's received fellowships from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the Cafritz Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She received a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers' Conference and codirects the Joaquin Miller Cabin Poetry Reading Series in Washington, DC."

Reviews

[Andrea Levin · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the contributors to this anthology are Jewish American poets, but not all the poems are on Jewish themes. This didn’t bother me, but it does distinguish this anthology from other Jewish poetry anthologies that I’ve read. The selections in this anthology are consistently excellent in quality in comparison to other poetry anthologies. Famous poets and less famous poets are included. I appreciate how this book introduced me to new poets. The brief commentaries on Jewish American poetry are also interesting.

[Shanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection is pretty well curated with excellent biographies on each poet, but there was a lack of content from young poets, which I think could have improved the quality of the anthology.

[The Jewish Book Council]

Review by Hara Person for the Jewish Book Council.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...