Elliott batTzedek
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Elliott batTzedek holds an MFA in Poetry and Poetry in Translation from Drew University. She is the recipient of the Robert Bly translation prize, for her work on Dance of the Lunatic by the Israeli Jewish lesbian poet Shez. She is the co-leader of Fringes: a feminist, non-zionist havurah, which was founded in 2007 and meets monthly. This community uses poetry as prayer, and Elliott both creates new liturgy and weaves poetry by others into traditional liturgical forms. Liturgy created for Fringes is now being used across the country.
Elliott is the recipient of a Leeway Foundation Art and Change Award for her translations, and a residency at Norcroft: A Writing Retreat for Women. Her poems, essays, and translations have been published in the journals: American Poetry Review, Massachusetts Review, The Broadkill Review, Lilith, I-70 Review, Hunger Mountain Review, American Religion Journal, Smokey Blue Literary Arts, Sakura Review, Hole in the Head Review, Cahoodaloodaling, Naugatuck River Review, Poemeleon, North of Oxford, humana obscura, Last Leaves, Hellbender Magazine, Philadelphia Stories, and a Split This Rock poem of the week. Her chapbook the enkindled coal of my tongue was published in January, 2017 by Wicked Banshee Press. A chapbook of translations from Israeli lesbian poet Shez, A Necklace of White Pearls, was published by Moonstone Press in July, 2024.
For her day jobs, Elliott works multiple roles within the bookselling industry: as an event manager at a bookstore, as the Member Manager for a Regional Indie Bookstore Trade Association; as the administrator for the Professional Booksellers School; and as the dean of that school’s course in Event Management.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
When I am writing poetry I write from this tangled intersection of all of my identities, fears, obsessions, and joys. Being a Jew is part of that mix, but the “Jewish bits” may only be visible to others of my tribes. As a liturgist, though, Jewish-ness and Judaism are my gravity and my lens. Liturgy, like poetry, is the attempt to translate the language of the heart into the language of the breath, with the additional task of trying to find words that speak for an entire community, or at the very least a minyan. Creating liturgy for my communities is how I practice Judaism – outside of any theology or denomination or politic, creating word patterns to help my peoples touch the holy is what it means for me to a poet, a person, and a Jew.
Published Works
All Beings Yearn (The Broadkill Review, 2024)
the enkindled coal of my tongue (chapbook; Wicked Banshee Press, 2017)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
- Fringes, “Mourners Kaddish”
- Apiary, “Be Rough, Be Indifferent” (translation of Israeli Jewish lesbian poet Shez)
- Shez, “A Necklace of White Pearls”
- Lilith, “Habasar v’haguf”
- Wordpeace, “I Shall Not Look, Yet Shall I Bear Witness”
- Hole in the Head, “Conception Waltz”, “Singin’ this will be the day”, “Ossuary” and “Wedding Dance”
Video Reading
Current Title
Education
Beloit College, B.A. in English and Creative Writing
Minnesota State University at Mankato, M.S. in Women’s Studies
Drew University, M.F.A. in Poetry and Poetry in Translation