The winners of the 72nd National Jewish Book Awards were announced by the Jewish Book Council (JBC) on Wednesday, Jan. 18. The awards ceremony will be held March 1.

Michael W. Twitty, author of KOSHER-SOUL: THE FAITH AND FOOD JOURNEY OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN JEW, won the Jewish Book of the Year — Everett Family Foundation Award. He also is the founder of Afroculinaria, a culinary history blog.

Awards were given in 25 categories, including contemporary Jewish practice, biography, children’s books, Women’s Studies, the Holocaust, poetry and books based on archival materials. The categories and the winners in each are listed below. A list of nominees as well as winners can be found on the Jewish Book Council’s website.

Mentorship Award in Honor of Carolyn Starman Hessel

• Ellen Frankel, who served as editor in chief and CEO of the Jewish Publication Society for 18 years. She is the author of 10 books, including the National Jewish Book Award-winning THE ILLUSTRATED HEBREW BIBLE and the Jerusalem Mysteries thriller series. Additionally, she has taught writing and literature at Princeton University, Franklin and Marshall College and Drexel University.

American Jewish Studies Celebrate 350 Award

• AMERICAN SHTETL: THE MAKING OF KIRYAS JOEL, A HASIDIC VILLAGE IN UPSTATE NEW YORK, Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, Princeton University Press.

Autobiography and Memoir — The Krauss Family Award in Memory of Simon & Shulamith (Sofi) Goldberg

• CHOSEN: A MEMOIR OF STOLEN BOYHOOD, Stephen Mills, Metropolitan Books.

Academic Studies Press

• LOST & FOUND: REFLECTIONS ON GRIEF, GRATITUDE, AND HAPPINESS, Kathryn Schulz, Random House.

Biography — In Memory of Sara Berenson Stone

• THE ESCAPE ARTIST: THE MAN WHO BROKE OUT OF AUSCHWITZ TO WARN THE WORLD, Jonathan Freedland, Harper­Collins Publishers.

The Miller Family Award in Memory of Helen Dunn Weinstein and June Keit Miller

• SHAYNA, Miriam Ruth Black, Kirk House.

Children’s Picture Book: Tracy and Larry Brown Family

• THE VERY BEST SUKKAH: A STORY FROM UGANDA, Shoshana Nambi, Moran Yogev, illustrator, Kalaniot Books.

Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice —  Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award

• ON REPENTANCE AND REPAIR: MAKING AMENDS IN AN UNAPOLOGETIC WORLD, Danya Ruttenberg, Beacon Press.

Debut Fiction — Goldberg Prize

• ABOMINATION, Ashley Goldberg, Penguin Ran­dom House Australia.

Education and Jewish Identity — In Memory of Dorothy Kripke

• MY SECOND-FAVORITE COUNTRY: HOW AMERICAN JEWISH CHILDREN THINK ABOUT ISRAEL, Sivan Zakai, NYU Press.

Fiction — JJ Greenberg Memorial Award

• SIGNAL FIRES, Dani Shapiro, Alfred A. Knopf.

Food Writing & Cookbooks — Jane and Stu­art Weitz­man Family Award

• COOKING ALLA GIUDIA, Benedetta Jasmine Guetta, Artisan Books.

Hebrew Fiction in Translation — Jane Weitz­man Award

• LOVE, Maayan Eitan, Penguin Press.

History — Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award

• AN UNCHOSEN PEOPLE: JEWISH POLITICAL RECKONING IN INTER­WAR POLAND, Kenneth B. Moss, Harvard University Press.

Holocaust — In Memory of Ernest W. Michel

• THE ESCAPE ARTIST: THE MAN WHO BROKE OUT OF AUSCHWITZ TO WARN THE WORLD, Jonathan Freedland, Harper­Collins Publishers.

Holocaust Memoir

• ONE HUNDRED SATURDAYS: STELLA LEVI AND THE SEARCH FOR A LOST WORLD, Michael Frank, Simon & Schuster / Avid Reader Press.

Middle Grade Literature

• THE PRINCE OF STEEL PIER, Stacy Nockowitz, KarBen Publishing.

Modern Jew­ish Thought and Experience — Dorot Foundation Award in Memory of Joy Ungerleider Mayerson

• FIGURING JERUSALEM: POLITICS AND POETICS IN THE SACRED CENTER, Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, The University of Chicago Press.

Poetry — Berru Award in Memory of Ruth and Bernie Weinflash

• TODAY IN THE TAXI, Sean Singer, Tupelo Press.

Scholarship — Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award

• THE HERESY OF JACOB FRANK: FROM JEWISH MESSIANISM TO ESOTERIC MYTH, Jay Michael­son, Oxford University Press.

Sephardic Culture — Mimi S. Frank Award in Memory of Becky Levy

• ONE HUNDRED SATURDAYS: STELLA LEVI AND THE SEARCH FOR A LOST WORLD, Michael Frank, Simon & Schuster / Avid Reader Press.

Visual Arts

• LET THERE BE LIGHT: THE REAL STORY OF HER CREATION, Liana Finck, Random House.

Women’s Studies — Barbara Dobkin Award

• BIBLICAL WOMEN AND JEWISH DAILY LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES, Elisheva Baumgarten, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Writing Based on Archival Material — The JDC-Herbert Katzki Award

• A ​“JEWISH MARSHALL PLAN:” THE AMERICAN JEWISH PRESENCE IN POST-HOLOCAUST FRANCE, Laura Hobson Faure, Indiana University Press.

Young Adult Literature

• IT’S MY WHOLE LIFE: CHARLOTTE SALOMON: AN ARTIST IN HIDING DURING WORLD WAR II, Susan Wider, Norton Young Readers.

The National Jewish Book Awards

The Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards were estab­lished by Jew­ish Book Coun­cil in 1950 to rec­og­nize out­stand­ing works of Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture. They are the old­est awards of their kind.

The Jew­ish Book Coun­cil(JB is a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to edu­cat­ing, enrich­ing, and strength­en­ing the com­mu­ni­ty through Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture. Each year, JBC reach­es over half a mil­lion read­ers with its dig­i­tal pres­ence, and works with more than 250 tour­ing authors, cre­at­ing resources for more than 2,500 book clubs.

It facil­i­tat­es more than 1,400 events, pre­sent­ing the Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards and Natan Notable Books, co-host­ing the pop­u­lar lit­er­ary series “Unpack­ing the Book: Jew­ish Writ­ers in Con­ver­sa­tion,” and pub­lish­ing its annu­al print pub­li­ca­tion, Paper Brigade. 

JBC ensures that the authors of Jew­ish-inter­est books have a plat­form, and that read­ers are able to find these books and have the tools to dis­cuss them with their communities.

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