At the Public Library Association conference, RBL learned that Rowman & Littlefield is reviving the Judaica line under its Jason Aronson imprint. R&L acquired Aronson in 2003 and continued to publish its Judaica backlist through 2008, such as a paperback edition of In Memory’s Kitchen, a cookbook compiled in concentration camps during World War II that had originally been published in hardcover in 1996.
Julie Kirsch took over as publisher of Jason Aronson in 2008, “and by then the Judaica line was dormant,” she said. In recent years the focus has been on Aronson’s professional psychotherapy titles, “but it was always nagging at me,” said Kirsch. “We continued to sell the backlist and I felt there was an opportunity to reinvigorate that line.”
The impetus to take that step came when Kirsch received a proposal in 2010 for Surviving Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide (Aug.). She was preparing for her own daughter’s bat mitzvah, and the book struck a chord. “There are lots of books on planning parties and so forth, but nothing for the kids themselves,” she noted. Written by Cantor Max Axelrod, “the book is fun and light in tone, while offering concrete advice on how to prepare, dealing with stressed out parents and their own fears.”
Aronson Judaica will include exegesis, reference, biography and commentary by major Jewish figures, as well as general trade titles. “Some of the trade titles will work in both bookstores and libraries, but some will be more targeted to libraries,” such as reference works that are accessible to general readers, like Essential Figures in the Bible and Essential Figures in the Talmud (both Nov.), Kirsch said.
Three to five titles are planned for 2012 and 10-15 next year, “settling into about 20 titles per year,” said Kirsch. In addition to new books, there will be new editions. “Some of the backlist just keeps chugging along, and I’m looking through it for titles that would lend themselves to updating or a change of format.”
