a hearth for Jewish poetry

David Ebenbach

Assistant Director for Graduate and Faculty Programming, Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, Georgetown University

Birth Year
b. 1972
Current City
Washington D.C., United States
Birth City
United States, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Genre(s)
Poetry, Nonfiction, Fiction, Playwriting
Author’s Website
Author Reading
Photo credit: Photo Credit: Paige Critcher

Biography

David Ebenbach is the author of three books of poetry—We Were the People Who Moved, Some Unimaginable Animal, and What’s Left to Us by Evening, as well as six books of fiction and non-fiction. His books have won such awards as the Juniper Prize, the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, and the Patricia Bibby Award, among others. A graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts (writing) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (psychology), David now lives with his family in Washington, DC, where he works at Georgetown University, teaching writing and literature in the Center for Jewish Civilization and promoting student-centered teaching in the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship.

Published Works

Poetry
What’s Left to us by Evening (Orison Books, 2022)
Some Unimaginable Animal (Orison Books, 2019)
We Were the People Who Moved (Tebot Bach, 2015; Winner:Patricia Bibby First Book Award); Outstanding Poetry recognition (Wisconsin Library Association).

Fiction
How to Mars
(Tachyon Books, 2021): a novel.
Miss Portland (Orison Books, 2017; Winner: Orison Prize)
The Guy We Didn’t Invite to the Orgy and other stories (University of Massachusetts Press, 2017; Winner: Juniper Prize)
Into the Wilderness (Washington Writers Publishing House, 2012; Winner: Washington Writers Publishing House Prize)
Between Camelots (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005; Winner: Drue Heinz Literature Prize ); New Writer Award (Great Lakes Colleges Association); Outstanding Achievement recognition (Wisconsin Library Association)

Nonfiction
The Artist’s Torah
(Wipf & Stock, 2012): a non-fiction guide to the creative process and the artist’s life through a Jewish spiritual lens.

Links to Sample Works

Subject Matter

Aging, Antisemitism, Art & Ekphrasis, Childhood, Cultural Identity, Death, Environment & Climate Crisis, Family, Grief & Elegy, Jewish Mysticism, Jewishness, Labor, Loss, Love, Midrash, Mythology, Narrative, Nature, Parenting, Politics, Shoah, Genocide, Torah, Trauma, War, Math and/or Physics, Visual Art, Pop Culture, Mental Illness, Disability, Race, Sports.