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“Wonderful exposure to contemporary Hebrew (mostly) fiction and poetry - much of which is not available or known about outside of Israel.”
“Excellent podcast giving exposure to the best of Israeli letters: fiction and poetry, contemporary and classic, it's an essential regular listen. Also has very well selected musical accompaniments.”
“Marcela's voice is perfect for narrating the poetry featured on this podcast. It really puts me in between the lines of text.”
Recent Episodes
Ayala Ben Lulu’s “Mona Lisa”
This week Marcela returns to focus on up and coming Israeli writers who have rarely or never before been translated into English, by featuring Ayala Ben Lulu. “Mona Lisa” appears in the latest issue of The Ilanot Review, which was a collaboration with Granta Hebrew.
Ronit Matalon’s “And the Bride Closed the Door”
This podcast is dedicated to marriage—all the engaged couples with cold feet, newly married couples, and long-married couples who survived the wedding day. Marcela reads from and discusses Ronit Matalon's last book written before her death, which was awarded Israel’s prestigious Brenner Prize.
About the Host
Marcela Sulak
Marcela is an associate professor in the Department of English Literature and Linguistics at Bar-Ilan University. She teaches American Literature, poetics, and translation, and poetry workshops in the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Her poetry includes Decency (2015), Immigrant (2010). She was nominated for the 2017 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, and translates from Czech, French, Spanish, German, Hebrew, and Yiddish. She’s co-edited Family Resemblance. An Anthology and Exploration of 8 Hybrid Literary Genres, and her essays appear in The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Boston Review, The Iowa Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere.
Nava Semel’s “Isra Ilse”
“Isra Ilse” opens as a detective story when Liam Emanuel, an Israeli descendant of Noah, learns about and inherits Grand Island, downriver from Niagara Falls. He leaves Israel intending to reclaim this “Promised Land” in America. Shortly after he arrives in America Liam disappears. Simon T. Lenox, a Native American police investigator, tries to recover Israel’s “missing son.”