Bring Yetzirah to You: Jewish Poetry Salons & Yetzirah Watch Parties

We believe an important part of supporting Jewish poets and Jewish poetry is helping people make connections in their own communities, helping facilitate local networks that encourage and inspire. After all, online friends can’t drop off soup and a good book when you have the flu.

So whether you’d like to hold an event at your synagogue or your home, at a local bookstore or library, with your book club or writing group, or as part of your reading series, we’ve created some materials to assist you in hosting a successful gathering. 

Once you’ve got everything planned, send your event’s details to our intern Shelby Sizemore at [email protected], and we’ll add it to our community calendar. In your message, please include:

    • Name, date, and time of the event you’ll be hosting
    • Address of the event’s venue
    • Names of participating readers, hosts, etc.
    • A link to your event (if you have one)

Find our Community Calender here.

*As the programs we create and events we promote are an important part of our fundraising efforts, we’ve included a QR code on these documents linked to our donation page. We’d very much appreciate if you might encourage your community to help support Yetzirah’s literary efforts through their contributions.

For a JEWISH POETRY SALON of featured local readers, perhaps preceded or followed by an open mic, you can download:

As a suggestion of one way to structure an event, at our very first in-person poetry salon, hosted in someone’s home, we had three featured readers who read about 10-12 minutes each and, after a break for snacks and drinks, invited each person to share a poem of either their own or by a Jewish poet they admire, which was a nice way to get more voices into the room. 

For a YETZIRAH WATCH PARTY of one our readings—live or recorded—you can download: 

Fall 2022

September 11 (Self-Reflection) Dan Alter, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Joy Ladin, Sean Singer 

October 9 (Harvest/Fruition/Fullness) Judith Baumel, David Ebenbach, Erika Meitner, Victoria Redel

November 13 (101 Jewish Poems for the New Millennium anthology event) Nancy Naomi Carlson & Matthew Silverman (editors), Jeffrey Levine, Alan Michael Parker, Amy Small-McKinney, Katherine Smith

Spring 2023

January 15 (Trees/Nature) Rebecca Aronson, Rachel Hadas, Maya Pindyck

February 12 (Wildness) Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, Rodger Kamenetz, Jason Schneiderman

March 19 (A Translation Event, co-sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center) Featuring Jennifer Kronovet & Aviya Kushner, with Merle Bachman & Maia Evrona  

April 9 (Liberation/Freedom) Janlori Goldman, Dana Levin, Gail Newman, Yerra Sugarman