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SEX,
GOD, CHRISTMAS & JEWS:
Intimate Emails About
Faith and Life Challenges
NAMED AS KORET
INTERNATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
(SAN FRANCISCO, Sept.
12, 2006) - Judges today announced that Sex, God, Christmas and Jews,
Intimate Emails and Life and Faith Challenges, by Gil Mann has been
named one of 4 finalists for the Koret International Jewish Book
Awards, in the Jewish Life and Living category. This category had over
120 books nominated for consideration (the most of any category).
Prizes totaling $25,000
will be awarded to winning authors in the four categories: fiction,
Jewish thought, Jewish Life & Living, children's literature and -
new this year - the JBooks.com People's Choice Award. Each voter will
automatically be entered in a sweepstakes to win one of eight
Amazon.com gift cards ranging in value from $25 to $250.
 The
Koret International Jewish Book Awards, managed for the first time
this year by Jewish Family & Life! (JFL) in cooperation with the
National Foundation for Jewish Culture (NFJC), will present the awards
at 7 p.m. on Nov. 15 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.
The awards ceremony, emceed by Broadway legend Theodore Bikel and
scheduled to coincide with International Jewish Book Month, is open to
the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
Winners will be selected
from the following finalists:
Jewish Life &
Living:
* Sex, God, Christmas
& Jews by Gil Mann (www.beingjewish.org/sgc)
* The JGirls' Guide by
Penina Adelman, Ali Feldman and Shulamit Reinharz
* Dignity Beyond Death
by Rochel Berman
* History on Trial by
Deborah Lipstadt
Fiction:
* The Seventh Beggar by
Pearl Abraham
* Her Body Knows by
David Grossman
* A Changed Man by
Francine Prose
Jewish Thought:
* Betraying Spinoza by
Rebecca Goldstein
* Purity, Sacrifice, and
the Temple by Jonathan Klawans
* The Personhood of God
by Yochanan Muffs
* Caviar and Ashes by
Marci Shore
BabagaNewz Children's
Literature:
* Shlemiel Crooks by
Anna Olswanger, illustrated by Paula Goodman Koz
* Before You Were Born
by Howard Schwartz, illustrated by Kristina Swarner
* Butterflies Under Our
Hats by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Joani Keller Rothenberg
A celebration of the
Koret International Jewish Book Award winners is scheduled at New York
City's 92nd Street Y on Nov. 21.
"This year's
finalists have helped shape some of the most thought-provoking Jewish
ideas and values, advancing the international Jewish dialogue,"
said book awards chairman and JFL founder Yosef I.Abramowitz.
"And with the launch of the JBooks.com People's Choice Award this
year, we have been able to engage the reading public on a much more
participatory level."
Judges in the Jewish
Life and Living Category are
· Rabbi Harold Kushner,
Judge Chairman, author of many books including When Bad Things Happen
to Good People
· Joel Grishaver,
author and co-author of over 60 books
· Dr. Wendy Mogel,
author of Blessings of a Skinned Knee
For complimentary
tickets to the Nov. 15 awards ceremony in San Francisco, contact the
JCCSF box office at (415) 292-1233 or email koretbookawards@jflmedia.com.
CONTACT:
Susan Wolfe
swolfe@koretfoundation.org
Koret Foundation Funds
(415) 882-7740
Yosef I. Abramowitz
yabramowitz@jflmedia.com
Jewish Family &
Life! 011-972-54-692-2
Jill Baker
jbaker@jflmedia.com
Jewish Family &
Life! (617) 581-6849
Richard Siegel
rsiegel@jewishculture.org
National Foundation for
Jewish Culture (212) 629-0500
Emily Grotta
esgrotta@urj.org
Union for Reform Judaism
(212) 650-4227
About Koret
An entrepreneurial
spirit guides Koret in addressing societal challenges and
strengthening Bay Area life. Investing in strategic, local solutions,
Koret helps to inspire a multiplier effect - encouraging collaborative
funding and developing model initiatives.
In the San Francisco Bay
Area, Koret adds to the region's vitality by promoting educational
opportunity, contributing to a diverse cultural landscape, and
bolstering organizations that are innovative in their approaches to
meeting community needs.
Koret has supported the
book awards program since 1998.
About Jewish Family
& Life!
JFL, a dynamic Jewish
media organization committed to connecting Jews to Jewish life, was
selected to reimagine Koret's book awards. JFL's deep understanding of
the literary field through long-standing management of JBooks.com, its
experience in forging partnerships with other organizations, and its
media reach to targeted audiences of all ages through GenerationJ.com,
BabagaNewz magazine for middle school students, and other websites and
magazines, bring the promise of sustained excellence and increased
accessibility, both priorities stemming from the Koret mission.
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