About Joel

Joel Schalit is a writer and editor based in Milan, Italy. An Israeli-American pundit noted for his unique views on Middle Eastern politics and US culture, over the past fifteen years, Schalit has produced four books and contributed to numerous periodicals including Alternet, France 24 , The Guardian, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and XLR8R. Schalit’s fifth publication, Israel vs. Utopia, was published in October by Akashic Books.

The former managing editor of Berkeley’s Tikkun magazine and associate editor of Chicago’s award-winning Punk Planet, Schalit also served as the editor of international news and blogging portal Allvoices, and during the 1990s, as the co-director of the legendary online journal Bad Subjects. Also a freelance editorial consultant, Schalit has worked on book projects for VIZ, AK Press, Akashic and PM Press. He is currently the online editor of the New York-based Jewish periodical Zeek.

Between 2002 and 2004, working as the label manager of San Francisco’s Asphodel LTD, Schalit helped supervise one of America’s most influential electronic music imprints. Issuing recordings by the likes of Rhythm and Sound, Ellen Allien, Christian Marclay and Iannis Xenakis, he rebuilt the label’s North American and European distribution and marketing networks. A sound artist in his own right, Schalit is a veteran of the political performance group Christal Methodists, and, since 2002, the post-rock duo Elders of Zion.

Educated in Israel, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, Schalit holds a BA in Religion from Reed College, and an MA in Philosophy from the Graduate Theological Union. He engaged in his doctoral studies in the Programme in Social and Political Thought at York University. Schalit’s post-graduate research focused on discourses about religion and modernity in the work of Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno and Jürgen Habermas.

Contact: joel@joelschalit.com /skype: jschalit

Resume

SUMMARY	Fifteen years experience as an editor and writer for online and print periodicals Editor and writer of five books since 1998 Strong article acquisition and development skills in Middle Eastern politics and American culture Comprehensive knowledge of global news media
CURRENT	Freelance Editorial Consultant (UK) US reading tour, November, for Israel vs. Utopia Online Editor, Zeek France 24 Observer, France 24
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY	PM Press, Oakland CA, 2007-2008 www.pmpress.org Editor, Books and Web Conceived and led the design of publisher’s website, pmpress.org Edited the US edition of Banksy: Locations and Tours, by Martin Bull Wrote the template for author and artist contracts Set up, launched and managed PM’s audio division Provided distribution and marketing strategy support. Allvoices, San Francisco CA, 2008 www.allvoices.com Editor Recruited and managed a team of 22 bloggers from Belgrade to Los Angeles to cover current local events. Selected, built and managed news feeds to global news sources throughout the world, with special emphasis placed on the Middle East and South Asia. Edited and wrote news summaries for the first page of each global region of news feeds throughout the website. Set editorial standards for maximum words counts for article titles and summaries for all aggregated news content. Provided editorial feedback and engaged in usability testing for the development of Allvoices’ blogging platform. Tikkun Magazine, Berkeley, CA 2004-2007 www.tikkun.org Managing Editor Print and Online PRINT Magazine feature content acquisitions Israel/Palestine department editor Culture department editor: books, film and music Responsible for redesign of print edition Production supervisor Distribution supervisor Contributing writer and columnist ONLINE Website editor, Tikkun.org Responsible for redesign of Tikkun.org website Established a fee-based online archive for Tikkun back issues 1993-2007 San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco 2000–2004 www.sfbg.com Contributing Writer Feature writer Book reviewer Travel columnist Weekly calendar contributor Asphodel LTD/Schematic Music Company, San Francisco 2002–2004 www.asphodel.com Label Coordinator International marketing supervisor: Europe & North America International distribution supervisor: Europe, North America, Australia & Japan Production and release scheduling supervisor Compilation licensing supervisor Artists and repertoire curatorial assistant Punk Planet Magazine, Chicago, IL 1997-2004 www.punkplanet.com Associate Editor; Books Editor Features acquisition and editing Interviews Book reviews Contributing writer, columnist Bad Subjects: Political Education For Everyday Life, Berkeley, CA 1994-2005. www.eserver.org/bs Editorial Board Member Co-Director 1998-2000; 2002-2004 Reviews editor 1999-2004 Bad Subjects is the oldest online publication in the world
BOOKS	Israel Versus Utopia: The Left and the Middle Eastern Conflict Akashic Books, NY, October 2009 Anti-Capitalist Politics, 2008 Turkish translation of The Anti-Capitalism Reader Plan B Books, Istanbul, Turkey Collective Action: A Bad Subjects Anthology, 2004 Selected Bad Subjects essays, 1996-2004 Co-edited with Megan Shaw Prelinger Pluto Press, London, UK The Anti-Capitalism Reader: Imagining a Geography of Opposition, 2002 Edited collection of writings on the new anti-market politics featuring Naomi Klein, Doug Henwood, Ali Abunimah and Annalee Newitz alongside interviews with Thomas Frank, Antonio Negri, Wendy Brown and Slavoj Zizek Akashic Books, NY Jerusalem Calling: A Homeless Conscience in a Post-Everything World, 2002 Essays on religion in America, the post-Cold War left, the political economy of independent music, and my family’s role in the establishment of the state of Israel Akashic Books, NY Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life, 1998 Selected essays from the first four years of Bad Subjects, 1993-1997 Co-edited with Annalee Newitz and Charlie Bertsch NYU Press, NY
FREELANCE BOOK EDITING	A Living Revolution: Anarchism in the Kibbutz Movement, James Horrox, 2009 AK Press, Oakland CA The Century of the Black Ships, Naoki Inose, 2009 Viz Media, San Francisco CA Banksy: Locations and Tours, Martin Bull, 2009 PM Press, San Francisco CA Cyberarts, Digital Musics chapter , 2002-2006 editions Hatje Kantz Verlag, Ostfilden, Germany News Dissector, Danny Schechter, 2001 Akashic Books, NY
AWARDS & CITATIONS	Utne award, Spiritual Coverage, Tikkun magazine, 2006 Best of 2002, Publisher’s Weekly, 2002, Jerusalem Calling Utne award, Cultural/Social Coverage, Punk Planet, 2002 Utne award, General Excellence (‘Zines), Punk Planet, 2000
LANGUAGE SKILLS	French: Reading, Writing Spanish: Reading, Writing Hebrew: Oral
EDUCATION	York University, Toronto, ON, 1994-2002 PhD Candidate, Programme in Social & Political Thought The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, 1994 MA, Philosophy Yale University, New Haven, CT, 1991 Yale Divinity School Reed College, Portland, OR, 1990 BA, Religious Studies