The way Forward

By Jan Gardner  |  June 17, 2007

The Jewish Daily Forward was founded in 1897 to educate Yiddish-speaking immigrants about their new country while publicizing Jewish concerns to the wider world. By the early 1930s, the newspaper's nationwide circulation exceeded 270,000.

Now a new book, "A Living Lens: Photographs of Jewish Life From the Pages of the Forward" (Norton), presents 500 photographs culled from the newspaper's archive of 40,000. They include images of Marc Chagall, Bella Abzug, and the Beastie Boys, along with depictions of Jewish life around the world. Alan Dershowitz, Roger Kahn, and others contributed essays on topics ranging from Hollywood, labor, and the Holocaust to sports, politics, and Israel.

The Forward, which now is is a weekly newsmagazine published in English and Yiddish editions, plans to produce three more books, says Alana Newhouse, the Forward's arts and culture editor, and the editor of "A Living Lens." The next volume will be a collection of Yiddish fiction, translated into English. The paper's biggest literary star was Isaac Bashevis Singer, who in 1978 became the only Yiddish author to win a Nobel Prize . Yet Singer, Newhouse says, is only "the tip of the iceberg."

The state of gay and lesbian publishing is a mixed bag these days, according to Charles Flowers, executive director of the Lambda Literary Foundation , a leading organization in the field. Beacon Press has launched a new gay-themed series and many publishers -- both large and small -- produce at least one or two such titles a year.

"Talent is not concentrated in any one publisher," says Flowers, noting that the 25 books that last month won the foundation's annual literary awards represent 22 houses. Winners include "My Lucky Star," by Joe Keenan (Little, Brown), for humor; "The Art of Detection," by Laurie R. King (Bantam), for lesbian mystery; and "Suspension," by Robert Westfield (Harper ), for gay fiction.

Yet gay and lesbian publishing has not escaped the ongoing consolidation in the industry. Last month Book Span eliminated InsightOut, a lesbian and gay book club with 90,000 members. Avalon Publishing Group axed its Carroll & Graf imprint and laid off senior editor Don Weise. Gay and lesbian books accounted for about 25 percent of Carroll & Graf's titles. Weise, one of the leading editors in gay and lesbian publishing, acquired books from Gore Vidal, Edmund White, and Sarah Schulman , among others.

Beginning today , Pine Manor College, in Chestnut Hill, will host six readings as part of its Solstice Summer Writers' Conference. The lineup includes Andre Dubus III, Dennis Lehane, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn, and Sarah Micklem, author of the fantasy novel "Firethorn." The schedule is at www.pmc.edu/solstice/events.html .

"Stalin's Ghost," by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster)

"The Maytrees," by Annie Dillard (HarperCollins)

"The Diana Chronicles," by Tina Brown (Doubleday)

Julia Glass, author of "Three Junes" and "The Whole World Over," recommends "Grief," by Andrew Holleran (Hyperion): "It portrays the hermetic life of a middle-aged man who's outlived everyone he loves, whose sorrow is immovable and constant. It's about the most private kind of mourning -- a sad story, yes, but so defiant of cliché, so exquisitely truthful and vivid, that it took my breath away."

Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.