Focus Group
This was a nice surprise to wake up to today. I’m equally thrilled to be sandwiched between both books. Listing courtesy of Bookforum.
Out of the Ghetto
The February edition of Pagine Ebraiche is now out. Pictured above is an author interview, centered around the publication of Israel vs. Utopia. The title is “From the Venice Ghetto to Rishon Le Zion”, in reference to my family’s greater path of migration to Ottoman Palestine. It’s the first of two pieces of Italian press on the book, the second of which is forthcoming next month.
There are a couple of errors in the profile, but they’ve since been corrected. It’s an otherwise terrific piece, which, most importantly, gave a certain member of my family, extremely self-conscious of our Italian heritage, an enormous amount of pleasure to read. Granted, his Italian is about as rotten as mine, but still good enough to get the gist of an 850 + word newspaper article.
Special Holiday Insert
Anti-Flag wasn’t allowed into Ramallah. Malpensa airport gift shop, 12/17.
Invoking the Fetish Object
The most in-depth review of Israel vs. Utopia to date was published in The Forward yesterday. Combined with reviews of brand new books by Yitzhak Laor and James Horrox (the title I edited for AK Press), its an honor to keep such company.
Enclosed at the end of the article is an audio interview with yours truly, about IvU, conducted by arts and culture editor Dan Friedman. We recorded it in New York at the end of November, just before I got on my return flight to Milan.
Writing’s on the Wall
I shouldn’t have been surprised by an image of Mussolini appearing out of nowhere. Appropriated for god knows what, this Shepherd Fairey-like portrait (could Il Duce be the next Andre the Giant?) on Broome Street was an awkward way of telling me that I was getting closer to the so-called old country. My teenage stomping grounds, Manhattan, and, quite literally, home. In three days I’d be on a plane, flying back to Milan.
Live anywhere long enough, and you’re bound to encounter references to it wherever you go. When I arrived in DC on Monday, my cab driver turned out to be an Eritrean from Milan. “You ever go to the Africa Restaurant?” he asked, name-checking my favorite dining spot in town. “Milano, I have lots of family there,” said the Dominican driver of the taxi I took to JFK on Friday. “Its the one place in Europe with Latinos, like here.”
These anecdotes wouldn’t mean anything if it weren’t for the fact that much of my book is dedicated to demonstrating that the distance between “here” and “there” is never quite what it seems. Even more so now, in reference to the movement of Arabs and Jews back and forth, between the Occident and Orient, between San Francisco and Tel Aviv. Perhaps its the war that makes my version of this seem so much more important.
At a Theatre Near Us
“I don’t understand what interests you so much about the army,” Amir said, sounding somewhat exasperated. “My father’s stories, about being sent into Lebanon to hunt Fedayeen, would scare you to death. Even he gets frightened when he retells them.”
That conversation took place in the spring of 1976, on the balcony of Amir’s mother’s apartment, in Ramat Gan. We were both nine years old at the time. Seeing this advertisement, for the Venice Film Festival winner, brought his concerned words to mind.
Where’s the Love?
The new Zeek OS is now live. We released it last night, warts and all. This is the lead story: My analysis of the present crisis of Israeli-American relations.
Let’s Get Physical
Two and a half years is a long time. That’s how long it had been since I’d edited my last print periodical, the January/February 2007 edition of Tikkun. But, immediately after reviewing the final copy edits to Israel vs. Utopia at the end of June, I went to work as the guest editor of Zeek’s Fall print edition. Hired to assemble the magazine’s first Israel-themed issue, I gave it the title Israelology.
To be released later this month, the issue will be given out for free to registrants of the forthcoming J Street conference, taking place October 25th to 28th in Washington, DC. Israelology will also be distributed to the venues I will be reading at on my US tour in November. The near-simultaneous publication of this edition, in conjunction with my new book, is a welcome accident.
New to the Bookshelf
I’m proud to announce that Israel vs. Utopia is now available in the US. After six years of work, its remarkably gratifying to witness the book’s release. It was an absolute bear of a project to undertake. Only now does it feel like its really over.
Well, sort of. I’ll be supporting the book with a two week reading tour of the United States, starting in Seattle, on November 6th. See the Events section of this website for venue locations, as well as updates to the current reading schedule.
According to Amazon UK, the British release date is scheduled for November 5th. Speaking of said online retailer, although IvU is also available in Kindle format in the US, it is not available for download sales abroad quite as yet.
Reading the News
On Thursday, Iran and the United States held their first formal diplomatic discussions in thirty years. Convened in Geneva, the hope behind the meetings was to defuse further conflict between the West and the Islamic Republic.
Writing for France 24, I explain what the larger significance of the gathering was, focusing on its use, by the Obama administration, to combat criticisms of its attitude towards Israel, as well as its significance for other Mideast states.
