Baruch November
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Baruch November is the author of Bar Mitzvah Dreams and Dry Nectars of Plenty (co-winner of the BigCityLit chapbook contest). His literary works have been featured in Paterson Literary Review, Lumina, New Myths, The Forward, and Jewish Journal. His poem “After Esav” was nominated for a 2021 Pushcart Prize. Along with another poet, Baruch November directs and organizes the JCC of Buffalo’s Jewish Poetry Reading Series, which has or will feature Linda Pastan, Alicia Ostriker, Grace Shulman, Yehoshua November, Jessica Jacobs, and many other luminous Jewish poets. For more than 15 years, he has taught courses in Shakespeare, Introduction to Poetry, and writing at Touro College in Manhattan. He has lived in many cities in the U.S.A. but now lives in Washington Heights, New York.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
I would say two thirds of my poems—and perhaps more—dwell on Judaism in some way. In fact, as I get older, the more I learn about Jewish history, Chassidic stories, and Chassidic mysticism, the more my poetry becomes consumed with Judaic pursuits. Additionally, the more I witness the nature of Jewish life in the world and the rising anti semitism, the more I feel drawn to glorify and defend Jewish life and oppose our oppressors. I also feel the need to make Jewish culture relatable to other cultures and close the divides between us. I gravitate toward depictions of Jewish love intertwined with the mystical and the stories Torah. Additionally, I try to be honest in my poems about the experiences I have had as a religious Jew in the modern Jewish dating world.
Published Works
Bar Mitzvah Dreams (Main Street Rag, 2019)
Dry Nectars of Plenty (chapbook; co-winner of Big City Lit Chapbook Contest, 2002)
Links to Sample Works
Current Title
Education
Binghamton University, B.A.
Sarah Lawrence College, M.F.A. in Poetry