The Jerusalem International Book Fair, February 18-23, will exhibit more than 1,200 publishers from over 40 countries and display over 100,000 books in different languages.
By ERIKA SNYDERsteimatzki 88 298(photo credit: )Steimatzky sale bookends book fair
February is set to be a good months for readers and writers. The Jerusalem International Book Fair, February 18-23, will exhibit more than 1,200 publishers from over 40 countries and display over 100,000 books in different languages.
The Jerusalem Prize, awarded in the past to such authors as Susan Sontag, Arthur Miller and Octavio Paz, will be awarded as usual during the fair. A calendar of book fair events can be found at www.jerusalembookfair.com.
To take advantage of the literary season, Steimatzky bookstore is hosting a foreign book celebration and sale from February 15 to 28. The sale will allow the purchase of one foreign book and the second at half price and is to become an annual tradition.
Of Steimatzky's foreign book sales, 80 percent are in English, 15% Russian and 5% other languages.
In the past year the chain has noted a new trend: When foreign books are marketed in Hebrew translation, demand increases for the original version.
Judaica in the Holy Land
The second edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica, hailed as the "publishing project of the century" was released this week in Jerusalem. This 22-volume, 16-million word set comprises thousands of revised and entirely new entries encompassing history, culture, the sciences, religion and Jewish communities.
Recently released in Madrid, the overwhelming reception of the Encyclopedia by academic, rabbis and laypeople promises that this new edition will be a must have to complete any library.
The process to compile Judaica began in the 1920s in Germany, but was suspended when the Nazis rose to power. In 1966, the project to publish a complete Judaica encyclopedia was undertaken by the Keter Publishing House in Jerusalem where it was completed in 1971.
In January, the second edition won the 2007 Dartmouth Medal in recognition for distinguished achievement for creating a current reference work of outstanding quality and significance. Two years ago it was voted one of the top 50 works of reference of the 20th century by the American Library Association. The first edition included 19,000 entries and 13 million words.
The second edition offers more in-depth Holocaust studies with current research that allows for a better perspective of the period. The history of Jewish communities has been better documented and reported in this edition and the role of women is more thoroughly examined.
Issues of Jewish life ranging from Kabbala to Jewish culture and life also grace the pages of the new volumes.
More than 1,200 academics and world authorities were recruited to compose and compile this fully revised edition over a period of three years.
Pre-release sales suggest that the new edition of the encyclopedia will be as much of an asset to Jewish communities and Jewish academics as the previous one.
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