We hope you’re ready for a day full of community, creativity, and collaboration with more than 200 Jewish writers and illustrators across genres and levels of experience.
Below, you can read about each of the sessions and learn more about our incredible speakers.
The 2026 Jewish Writers Mifgash Sessions
Welcome: Opening Remarks from the Presidents of The Artists Against Antisemitism
We’ll start the day (after breakfast and coffee) with an official welcome from Alison Hammer and Jill Santopolo, the co-presidents of The Artists Against Antisemitism.
Speakers: Alison Hammer, Jill Santopolo
Alison Hammer
Jill Santopolo
Keynote: To be announced…
Panel: Beyond the Novel: Short-Form Writing
Short stories, essays, flash fiction, and hybrid work offer their own kind of power. This panel makes the case for the short form as a home for Jewish voices, discussing publication venues, craft, and how compression can capture Jewish experience with unusual intensity.
Speakers: Sara Lippmann (moderator), Judy Bolton-Fasman, Estelle Erasmus, Nancy Ludmerer (read their bios here.)
Sara Lippmann
Judy Bolton-Fasman
Estelle Erasmus
Nancy Ludmerer
Panel: We’re All In This Together: Cultural Citizenship
An exploration of how we celebrate Jewish joy and creativity during challenging times, as well as how the community can advocate for representation and full cultural participation.
Speakers: Erika Dreifus (moderator), Susan Blumberg-Kason, Eytan Kessler, Liza Wiemer. (read their bios here.)
Susan Blumberg-Kason
Erika Dreifus
Eytan Kessler
Liza Wiemer
Panel: Complicating the Narrative / Hidden Jewish Histories
This panel explores complicated truths, overlooked experiences, and uncomfortable chapters, and examines how writers can grapple with complexity rather than flatten it.
Speakers: Susan Blumberg-Kason (moderator), Ruth Behar, Richard Ho, Yardena Schwartz. (read their bios here.)
Susan Blumberg-Kason
Ruth Behar
Richard Ho
Yardena Schwartz
Panel: Creating a Strong Portfolio
What constitutes a strong portfolio? This panel covers curation, consistency, and range, with special attention to the Jewish book market. Practical, candid advice from the people creating, acquiring and editing Jewish works with an art component.
Speakers: Jill Santopolo (moderator), Rotem Moscovich, Yevgenia Nayberg, Leila Sales, Erica Rand Silverman, Vesper Stamper. Read their bios here.
Vesper Stamper
Rotem Moscovich
Leila Sales
Erica Rand Silverman
Yevgenia Nayberg
Panel: Graphic Narratives
Graphic narratives have carried Jewish memory, humor, and identity in unique ways. This panel explores how creators use sequential art to tell Jewish stories with Jewish characters about history, diaspora, faith, and the everyday, and what the visual form makes possible that is different from prose.
Speakers: Ken Krimstein (moderator), Yevgenia Nayberg, Roy Schwartz, Vesper Stamper. Read their bios here.
Roy Schwartz
Ken Krimstein
Yevgenia Nayberg
Vesper Stamper
Panel: The Making of Jewish Picture Books
A behind-the-scenes conversation on creating picture books that reflect Jewish life, holidays, values, and diversity. Authors, editors, illustrators and industry professionals discuss the author-illustrator match, balancing story with meaning, avoiding cliché, representing a range of Jewish experiences, and shaping the books that introduce the youngest readers to their heritage, history and religion.
Speakers: Jill Santopolo (moderator), Ruth Behar, Ann Koffsky, Rotem Moscovich, Liza Wiemer. (read their bios here.)
Jill Santopolo
Ruth Behar
Ann Koffsky
Rotem Moscovich
Liza Wiemer
Panel: Marketing AMA
An "ask me anything" session with publicists and marketing experts. Bring your questions about launch strategy, building an audience, reaching Jewish and non-Jewish readers and media, and making a small budget go far.
Speakers: Leigh Stein (moderator), Ayelet Durantt, Farin Schlussel, Katheleen Schmidt, Simona Zaretsky. (read their bios here.)
Leigh Stein
Ayelet Durantt
Farin Schlussel
Kathleen Schmidt
Simona Zaretsky
Panel: Memoir and Family-Inspired Stories
Writers of memoir discuss preserving Jewish family history, handling trauma and inheritance with care, navigating what to reveal, and turning personal recollection — of immigration, faith, loss, and continuity — into work that resonates beyond the family
Speakers: Jill Bialosky (moderator), Judy Bolton-Fasman, Nicholas Lemann. Read their bios here.
Jill Bialosky
Judy Bolton-Fasman
Nicholas Lemann
Panel: Modern Jewish Novels
A conversation about the diversity of the Jewish novel today and how Jewish themes are incorporated into a variety of categories, such as genre fiction, literary novels, and more.
Speakers: Ben Resnick (moderator), Michelle Cameron, AR Vishny (read their bios here.)
Ben Resnick
Michelle Cameron
AR Vishny
Panel: Publishing While Jewish 2026
A frank look at what it means to edit and publish Jewish books in the current moment and the pressures and opportunities of putting Jewish stories into the world today. Discussion topics include: navigating a fraught cultural climate, rising antisemitism, shifting reader expectations, and Jewish book sales.
Speakers: Jill Santopolo (moderator), Lindsay Bezalel, Cecily Kaiser, Lisa Leshne, Howard Lovy. (read their bios here.)
Jill Santopolo
Lindsay Bezalel
Cecily Kaiser
Lisa Leshne
Howard Lovy
Panel: Salon: Jewish Voices in Verse
This session explores how verse holds prayer, protest, grief, and joy, and how today's poets draw on Jewish language, sound, and memory in their work.
Speakers: Aviya Kushner (moderator), Jacqueline Jules, Owen Lewis, Matthew Lippman. (read their bios here.)
Aviya Kushner
Jacqueline Jules
Owen Lewis
Matthew Lippman
Panel: What Makes a Novel Jewish? Casual Jewish Representation in Fiction
Does a book need to be about being Jewish to be a Jewish book? Panelists explore "casual" representation and debate the boundaries of the category itself. Who decides what counts, and why does it matter?
Speakers: Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen (moderator), Elyssa Friedland, Jackie Friedland, Alison Hammer. (read their bios here.)
Tali Rosenblatt-Cohen
Elyssa Friedland
Jackie Friedland
Alison Hammer
Workshop: When the Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Writing: A Post-October 7th Generative Writing Workshop
Angry? Outraged? Anxious? Grieving? Sad? The last three years have been extraordinarily tough. They have also given us the opportunity to explore our own toughness, as well as our resolve, resiliency, strength, determination, humanity, compassion, and so much more. Poet, fiction writer, & children's book author Lesléa Newman will read poems from her new book The Last Flame Last, a suite of 18 poems written in response to October 7th and the tsunami of antisemitism that has ensued, and then lead a two-part generative writing exercise that will invite participants to unburden their hearts and turn towards hope. No previous writing experience necessary. Come with something to write with, something to write on, an open heart and an open mind and immerse yourself in an experience of curiosity and kindness.
Facilitator: Lesléa Newman. (read her bio here.)
Lesléa Newman
Workshop: How to Win Hearts and Minds: Communications Strategies for Combating Antisemitism
Facilitated by the Center for Antisemitism Research at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Grounded in years of qualitative research, ADL’s evidence-based program transforms people into powerful communicators who can:
Navigate conversations leveraging proven messaging and communications
Craft messages that change minds using effective approaches and principles
Engage communities through practical skills and strategic storytelling methods
Counter antisemitism effectively in your community and online spaces
Lead with confidence during difficult conversations, fostering understanding and inclusivity
Facilitator: Luda Isakharov (read our speaker bios here.)
Luda Isakharov