The Jewish Book Council has announced the winners in the 75th National Jewish Book Awards, the longest-run­ning Jew­ish lit­er­ary awards. The awards recognize works that illu­mi­nate Jew­ish life, his­to­ry, and cul­ture.

Eli Sharabi won the Book of the Year award, the high­est hon­or, for his mem­oir Hostage, which chron­i­cles his 491 days in Hamas cap­tiv­i­ty. “This recog­ni­tion means so much to me, not only per­son­al­ly, but for the mem­o­ry of my fam­i­ly and all those we lost,” Shara­bi said of the hon­or. ​“Hostage is my tes­ti­mo­ny, a sto­ry of my sur­vival, writ­ten so oth­ers could bear wit­ness. I hope it helps ensure that what hap­pened is nev­er for­got­ten. I am grate­ful to the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil for the vital work they do in ele­vat­ing Jew­ish voic­es and sus­tain­ing Jew­ish sto­ry­telling across generations.”

“Jew­ish sto­ry­telling is a mir­ror, reflect­ing our val­ues, and a bridge, con­nect­ing us with future gen­er­a­tions to pre­serve Jew­ish mem­o­ries and his­to­ry,” said Nao­mi Fire­stone-Teeter, CEO of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil. ​“Espe­cial­ly amid ris­ing anti­semitism and Jew­ish authors fac­ing increased scruti­ny, Jew­ish books have the pow­er to cre­ate and sus­tain com­mu­ni­ty.”

“This year’s Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award win­ners show­case the remark­able depth of Jew­ish lit­er­ary tra­di­tion and the vibran­cy of con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish voic­es shap­ing our world today,” said Elisa Spun­gen Bild­ner, pres­i­dent of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil. ​“These win­ning authors weave togeth­er past and future, remind­ing us that Jew­ish sto­ry­telling remains a vital source of imag­i­na­tion, courage, and connection.”

Allison Fagin won the JJ Greenberg Memorial Award for Fiction for Fagin the Thief, in which she creates a powerfully imagined backstory of the famous thief and ringleader in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. The other finalists were Mrs. Lilienblum’s Cloud Fac­to­ry by Iddo Gefen and Boy From the North Coun­try by Sam Sussman.

Zeeva Bukai’s The Anatomy of Exile won the Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction. The finalists were Boy From the North Coun­try by Sam Sussman and Unfin­ished Acts of Wild Creation by Sarah Yahm.

The Jane Weitzman Award for Hebrew Fiction in Translation went to Yishay Ishi Ron for his novella, Dog (translated by Yardenne Greenspan). Maya Arad’s Hap­py New Years was the other finalist. Dog is a poignant and unflinching exploration of PTSD, addiction, and redemption, told through the eyes of an Israeli officer returning from Gaza.

Dog also won the Miller Fam­i­ly Award for Best Book Club Selection. Finalists were 33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen, Behind the Trigger by Yariv Inabr, and On Democ­ra­cies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization by Dou­glas Murray.

Julia Ioffe won the Krauss Fam­i­ly Award for Memoir and Autobiography for Moth­er­land: A Fem­i­nist His­to­ry of Mod­ern Rus­sia, from Rev­o­lu­tion to Autocracy. The other finalist was Heart of a Stranger: An Unlike­ly Rab­bi’s Sto­ry of Faith, Iden­ti­ty, and Belonging by Angela Buch­dahl.

The Celebrate 350 Award for American Studies was given to Pamela S. Nadell for Anti­semitism, an Amer­i­can Tra­di­tion. The other finalist was The Jew­ish South: An Amer­i­can History by Shari Rabin.

Sarah Hurwitz received the Myra H. Kraft Memo­r­i­al Award for Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Life and Practice for As A Jew: Reclaim­ing Our Sto­ry From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us. From 2009 to 2017, Hurwitz served as a White House speechwriter, first as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then as head speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Hurwitz was the chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton. Her first book, Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life — In Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There), was named a finalist for two 2019 National Jewish Book Awards and for the 2020 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

The win­ners of the 75th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards will be hon­ored on Wednes­day, March 25 at Tem­ple Emanu-El in New York City. Jon­ah Platt, the award-win­ning pod­cast­er and enter­tain­er, will host the event.

The Jew­ish Book Coun­cil is a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to edu­cat­ing, enrich­ing, and strength­en­ing the com­mu­ni­ty through Jew­ish lit­er­a­ture. Each year, JBC reach­es 900,000 read­ers with its vibrant dig­i­tal pres­ence, in addi­tion to work­ing with near­ly 300 tour­ing authors each year, cre­at­ing resources for over 3,000 book clubs, facil­i­tat­ing over 1,400 events, pre­sent­ing the Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards and Natan Notable Books, curat­ing its bimonth­ly book sub­scrip­tion series, Nu Reads, 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.