Tamar Yellin Wins First Sami Rohr Prize
By Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 5/22/2007 9:27:00 AM
English author Tamar Yellin won the inaugural Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature yesterday evening at the Pierre Hotel for her debut novel The Genizah of the House of Shepher (Toby Press). The $100,000 prize—the largest ever Jewish literary prize—was meant to recognize and give platform to an emerging and talented Jewish writer. In her acceptance speech, she noted that it took her 13 years to finish the book and two more to find a publisher. "It was turned down by half the publishers in London. I was told by one agent that it wasn’t the sort of book that would appeal to the American market." Yellin met her publisher Matthew Miller for the first time yesterday, having communicated regularly with him by email and phone.
It was also a big evening for Toby Press and Miller, who was also the publisher of one of the two Sami Rohr Choice Awards, Amir Gutfreund’s My Holocaust.A 20-year veteran of the Israeli army, Gutfreund began writing in earnest after his military tour of duty. He noted that it took a while for his book to gain readership in Israel (where it is now a bestseller), which didn’t surprise him because "few people wanted to read a book with such an unappealing title." The other Choice award winner was Michael Lavigne for Not Me, recently reissued in trade paper by Random House. A San Francisco resident, Lavigne worked in advertising before he began writing. Unlike his colleagues, he describes his writing as "never autobiographical, noting that "my life is not even interesting to me. The Sami Rohr prizes, including $7,500 for the two Choice winners was sponsored by Sami Rohr’s family to honor their patriarch’s 80th birthday and his lifelong love of Jewish literature. The next Sami Rohr prize will be given in 2008 to an emerging nonfiction author. In conjunction with the prize, The Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute has been created, so that emerging and established authors can meet to discuss trends and ideas. The Rohr Prize and Institute are under the administration of the Jewish Book Council with Geri Gindea as director. The prize winners were selected by an independent panel of judges, including PW executive editor Daisy Maryles.
