Celine Assayag was born in 1967 and is mother to two grown-up daughters. She studied philosophy and Hebrew literature at Ben Gurion University as part of their writing program. Assayag has previously published two critically acclaimed novels which earned her the Minister of Education and Culture Prize for Literature and the Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Literary Works, and which were longlisted for the prestigious Sapir Prize for Literature.Until about five years ago, Celine Assayag pursued a successful career in the field of mechanical engineering. Today, besides her writing, she is the Hebrew literature editor in chief for Yediot Sfarim (Yediot Books), one of Israel’s largest and most prominent publishing houses.
Hannah Brown’s short stories have been published in Commentary, JMWW, the Jerusalem Post and Short Story Quarterly as well as in the anthologies, Israel Short Stories, Love in Israeland Tel Aviv Stories 2 (a collaboration between Ang.-Lit Press and Jewish Quarterly). Her novel, If I Could Tell You, is about mothers raising children with autism. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Next Tribe, Hadassah, The Daily Beast and other publications. She is the movie and television critic for the Jerusalem Post and she used to be a movie critic at the New York Post.
Alex Gordon is a native of Kiev (USSR) and a graduate of the Kiev State University and Haifa Technion (Doctor of Science, 1984). He repatriated to Israel in 1979. He is a Full Professor (Emeritus) of Physics in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Haifa University and at Oranim, the Academic College of Education. He was twice Head of the Department of Mathematics and Physics for six years. He was the Chairman of the Committee for appointing professors at Oranim on behalf of the Council of Higher Education of the State of Israel for 18 years. He is the author of seven books and about 500 articles in paper and online, and has been published in 56 journals in 12 countries in Russian, Hebrew, English and German.
Eli (rhymes with deli) Greenbaum is a lawyer/freelance writer. He was born in Tel Aviv and immigrated with his family to the United States when he was five. He has authored several books (nonfiction), short stories, and essays. He taught advertising and marketing at Wayne State University, Michigan State University, and the College for Creative Studies (Detroit). His love of books, libraries, and community earned him an elected position on the Bloomfield Township Public Library board of trustees. Eli’s muse and toughest critic is his wife Barbara Bloom, a freelance writer/editor. They live in Vancouver, B.C.
Samuel Isban (the author) (1905–1995) was born in Gostynin, Poland and emigrated to America in 1937. A prolific journalist and author in both Yiddish and Hebrew, Isban published numerous novels and short story collections as well as a book of reportage Illegal Jews Part the Seas. He is most remembered for his stories dealing with life in Palestine before the foundation of the state of Israel.
Brooke Randel is a writer and copywriter in Chicago. Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in Fearsome Critters, Gigantic Sequins, LandLocked Magazine, The Nasiona, SmokeLong Quarterly and Two Cities Review. She is currently writing a memoir about her grandma, literacy, and the legacy of the Holocaust.
Naomi Shepherd is the author of eight books published in the UK and US. Born and educated in the UK, she spent 45 years in Israel working first in the Hebrew University and then as political correspondent for leading UK and US newspapers. Her biography of Wilfrid Israel won the UK Wingate Prize. Others include studies of l9th century visitors to Palestine and the British Mandate, a history of Jewish women radicals, the administration and life of Jerusalem, Russian immigrants to Israel, a memoir, and one collection of short stories. “Local Currency” is the title story of a new collection for which she is looking for a publisher. She currently lives in London.
Yossi Sucary was born in Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1959, and grew up in the disadvantaged neighborhood of Pardess Katz. When he was eight, his family moved to Tel Aviv, where he still lives. Sucary studied at the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science at Tel Aviv University. He now teaches at the Tel Aviv College of Management, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and at Minshar College. His books are included in university curricula. Sucary is the recipient of the Brenner Prize (2014) and the Prime Minister's Prize (2015).
Rita Taryan is a Hungarian-born Canadian-American writer based in Brooklyn, New York. She has worked as a puppeteer, a security guard, a barmaid, a disc jockey, a tool and die worker, and a translator of articles and letters. Currently, she teaches adult literacy and ESL in the Bronx Community ESL Program, which is a partnership between Fordham University and New York’s Department of Youth and Community Development. She also devotes her time to the English Language Institute Center for New Immigrant Education (CNIE), helping asylum seekers and resettled refugees. Her poetry has appeared in Room and in Culture, Art, News,and she is a winner of a Norma Epstein Foundation Award for Creative Writing.
Michael Vines received his MA in English from Columbia University. Aside from a produced screenplay for a horror film, about which the less said the better, his other writing credits are anonymous—print, radio, and television advertising for national and global clients of several of New York’s most renowned advertising agencies. “My Industrious Next-door Neighbor” is excerpted from his unpublished novel Treblinka, Mon Amour. He lives in New York City with his wife where he enjoys reading, writing, playing blues and rock guitar, and following politics and the St. Louis Cardinals.
