The Voices Israel Group of Poets

in English

To all our returning visitors: welcome to our new website!

We now have a top menu with sub-menus  (the little arrow beside a menu item tells you whether it has a sub-menu or not). Note that the top menu items are also clickable – e.g. you can click on About Voices as well as on the items in its sub-menu.

Who We Are

Voices Israel is the natural home for Israeli poets writing in English, and for those abroad who support our goals and share our enthusiasm for poetry. From our initial launch by four founders in 1971, we have grown to a membership of 160 poets in Israel and many other countries.  We are a fully-accredited and approved organization registered since 1993 with the Israel Organizations Authority.  


For fuller information: 

What We're Doing

Meeting Update: 

The January meeting of the Ashkelon group will be on Wednesday Jan 23 at 6:30 pm at the home of Chaim Bezalel and Yonnah Ben Levy:
7 Hadekel St.,  Ashkelon.


Almost all our groups are holding meetings this month -  details are in the Newsletter sent to all our members. Would-be members who'd like to visit a meeting: please see our Contacts page to get in touch with your local group coordinator.


Poetry Reading in Tzfat — on January 24, at 6:30 pm, at Mystic Mountain Studio and Brewery, 2 Revitsky St., Tzfat 13221 - see it on Google Maps.

Featured poets: Reuven Goldfarb, Shlomo Sher, Michael Dickel (Dekel); invitees: Yehudit Goldfarb, Ann Bar-Dov, Pesach Rotem, and Michael Kagan. 

Readers include members of both Voices Israel and the IAWE.


There will be signed books for sale. Also other types of soul food: Mystic Mountain serves micro-brewed beers and ales, local organic wine,

and home-made food. For further information contact: Reuven Goldfarb: poetsprogress@gmail.com. tel. 04-697-4105.

Membership renewals are now due for 2019. Do renew quickly to take advantage of the Early Bird discount! You do it by filling in our membership form and sending it by mail with a cheque, or by email with details of your bank transfer, to our Treasurer. Full details, and the form to fill in, are on our Join Voices page.

We've just held a workshop: "Imagery, Imagination and Poems that Build to a Series." Led by Dr. Judy Belsky -  poet extraordinaire and an amazing teacher of poetry writing - the workshop took place on December 17th in Jerusalem.

Wondering what our workshops are like? Take a look at the Workshops section of our website.
Recent and upcoming events
The submission period for the 2019 Anthology opened on December 16th. 
Details of how to submit are on the 2019 Anthology Submissions page. 
We launched our 2018 Anthology with a wonderful evening at the Karaoke Bar, Netanya.
Our  yearly anthologies contain the poems voted by our Editorial Board  to be the best of those submitted.   Interested? For more information, including details of how to order copies, see our Anthology page.
A panel of three independent judges is currently judging entries to the Reuben Rose
competition. Results are expected  any day now. Watch this space! The three winners will receive cash prizes totalling $700 and publication of the winning poems. Ten Honorable Mentions will also be awarded, with publication of the poems.

What our Members Have Been Doing: congratulations to:

Edit Gavrielly, on the birth of two grandsons.


Eli Ben-Joseph, on the birth of a grandchild.
Helen Bar-Lev, on her appointment as Overseas Connections Coordinator for Voices Israel.

Hannah Moshe, who has had the following poems and works published:

  • "Ai Way Way" (a poem in English) and חודש סליחות (a poem in Hebrew with an English translation) in
          Amaravati Poetic Prism 2018, the international multilingual poetry anthology 2018.
  • "Autumn" in Mizmor Anthology eCollection, December 2018.
  • "May Every Step" and "Taking Time" in an extremely beautiful anthology called Family Celebrations
         2018    .


Avril Meallem, whose poetry books, Dancing with the Wind and Come Sit with Me by the River, together with her two collections of Tapestry Poetry (co-authored with Indian poetess Shernaz Wadia) have now been published on Amazon (worldwide) and are available as both paperback and Kindle e-book editions. The paperback versions are still available in Israel via https://tapestrypoetry.webs.com/ or https://avrilm.webs.com/


Pesach Rotem, whose poem “Ripple” was published in Nine Mile Magazine (http://ninemile.org) and whose poem “Drawing Hands: Part One” was published in Constellations (www.constellations-lit.com/issues/vol8.html); and whose poem "Comforting Pats" was published a month or two earlier, in The Poeming Pigeon: In the News .


• Channah Moshe, Hayim Abramson and Avril Meallem for having their poems published in the “Amaravati Poetic Prism 2018” – an International Multilingual Poetry Anthology.

Awards and Publications: Congratulations to:
Matthew Anish, USA, who had two poems published in the November issue of Beyond Bree, a Mensa publication, and before that, two poems published in the July-August issue of The Amulet.
Esther Cameron, on the publication of the third and final installment of her article "Put Down That
Smartphone and Listen" in  Sasson Magazine; and for being interviewed by Rivka Levy, founding editor of that magazine.
Seymour Mayne, whose book In Your Words: Translations from the Yiddish and the Hebrew (Ronald P. Frye & Co.) received a Canadian Jewish Literary Award for outstanding book in 2018.
Ricky Rapaport Friesem, who has won First Prize in the nonfiction category of the Tiferet Journal 2018 writing contest for her submission “What’s in a Name?”
David Silverman, whose short story “Elvis Helps Me Courting” was chosen as one of the 12 winning stories in the ESRA Magazine Short Story Competition 2018.
Bernard Mann, for the interview with him in ESRA magazine's Sept/Oct/Nov issue about the writing of his book David & Avshalom, Life and Death in the Forest of Angels.

Come Join Us!

We're always happy to welcome new and established (yes and would-be) poets into our family!

  • To attend a local meeting to try us out - contact your local Coordinator.
  • To become a member of Voices Israel - fill in our membership application form and send it in - full details are in the form. Note that we charge a modest annual
         membership fee, which covers our costs and entitles you to a free copy of the Anthology and reduced fees for workshops.