Iddo Gefen, Author of "Jerusalem Beach", Wins the 2023 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature

Winner of 2023 Non-Fiction Award Announced!

The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, in association with the National Library of Israel, is pleased to announce that Iddo Gefen, author of Jerusalem Beach (Astra House), is the winner of the 2023 Sami Rohr Prize for fiction. Daniella Zamir is honored as the book’s translator and the first Translation Winner in the history of the Prize. The $100,000 purse will be split 75/25 between Gefen and Zamir.

Jerusalem Beach is a rich collection of stories enhanced by Gefen’s experience as a neurocognitive researcher. Reflecting on dreams, memory, decision making and character, his work is an original and inspiring meditation on what it means to be human.

After receiving notification of his win, Gefen said, “It is an incredible honor to be the recipient of the Sami Rohr Prize. I am filled with gratitude for being considered alongside such talented writers, and to be a part of a cultural community that has such a profound impact on Jewish literature."

 "Our family is delighted to honor Iddo Gefen and Daniella Zamir, together with Max Gross, Mikolaj Grynberg, Anna Solomon and Sean Gaspar Bye," said George Rohr. "Their books embody the spirit of the Sami Rohr Prize by reflecting the depth and breadth of the Jewish experience, and we look forward to their continued contribution to Jewish literature, culture and community.”

This year’s finalists are:

Max Gross, author of The Lost Shtetl (HarperVia), about a small Jewish village in Poland that is so secluded no one knows it exists...until now.

Mikołaj Grynberg, author of I’d Like to Say Sorry, But There’s No One to Say Sorry To (The New Press), with vignettes illuminating the panorama of Jewish experience in contemporary Poland.

Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V. (Henry Holt and Co.), a story of the intertwining lives of three Jewish women across three centuries and converging in the present.

Sean Gasper Bye, Translation Finalist for I'd like to Say Sorry, But There's No One to Say Sorry To, will join Gefen, Gross, Grynberg, Solomon and Zamir as a Fellow of the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute.

"It's a thrill to welcome the 2023 authors and translators to the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute," said Debra Goldberg, Director of the Sami Rohr Prize. "Their work brings honor to SRP and to the global Jewish and literary communities while transporting readers from biblical times to the Jewish shtetl and into contemporary life in Israel, Poland and the United States.”

The authors and translators will be honored at a ceremony on August 9, 2023, at the new home of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.