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:
- see our About Voices page;
- Come visit our Facebook page!
- download our flyer and email it to others who would like to hear about us.
- We also have a short flyer for notice boards. If there's a place where English speakers gather - why not print it out and pin it up there?
What We're Doing
Our Midsummer Workshop in Haifa took place on Tuesday, June 25th. With 25 attendees and a waiting list, it was a great success! The general theme was poetic form - for details, see our Haifa Workshop June 2019 page.
We held the presentations event of the 2018 Reuben Rose International Poetry Competition on May 16th, 2019 at Mercaz Avivim near Tel Aviv university. The first prize winner, John Gallas of the UK, didn't manage to get here, much to his and our regret; but sent us a lovely recording of himself reading his prize-winning poem, and an audio commentary on how the poem came to be written. Our two Israeli prize-winners and three Israeli "honourable mentions" read their poems themselves, while the poems of those who live abroad were beautifully read by Israeli proxy readers.
Here's a link to the full list of winners and Honorable Mentions; from that page you can read and download the texts of the poems (pdf file).
Here's a link to the page for the presentations evening, including John Gallas's recording of his poem and a few photos to give the feel of the evening. To see more photos from the event, visit our Facebook page !
At the same event, we launched a new Voices Israel initiative: the Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize endowed
in memory of a young Israeli poet, Bar Sagi. Bar was a talented young poet who sadly died
in 2017 in her sixteenth year. Her family is endowing a prize in her name and
family members attended the launch. We hope that this
prize will not only give solace but also promote poetry among young poets. We’re delighted that Voices Israel
is going to help encourage the voices of the young in Israel.
Dr. Judy Belsky, the co-ordinator of our Bet Shemesh group, helped organize a pre-Purim poetry reading entitled "The Spirit of Purim: Poetry and Music" at the Israel Center in Jerusalem. Five of our poets read their poems. To see a YouTube video of the event (1 hour 23 minutes) click here.
We're in the middle of judging submissions to the 2019 Voices Israel anthology. Our Chief Editor Dina Yehuda and the editorial team of Wendy Dickstein, Phella Hirschson and Amiel Schotz are busy making the hard decisions about which poems will feature in the 2019 Voices Israel Anthology. All those who have participated will be contacted by the Chief Editor later in the summer.
Our Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday March 12th at 6 pm. Here's the agenda. It was a lively event with
considerable discussion of resolutions. It was graciously hosted once again in central Tel Aviv by Birgit Talmon who organized a very appetising range of refreshments, and was attended by about 20 members. Ruth Fogelman was presented with a Steimatsky voucher to mark her completion of ten years as the Jerusalem chapter's coordinator. (Avril Meallem has succeeded Ruth - Welcome Avril!) After the formal business of the evening there was an Open Mike session - the attendees each read two of their poems and enjoyed the experience of listening to each other's work.
Voices and IAWE held a joint Poetry Reading in Tzfat — on January 24, at Mystic Mountain Studio and Brewery in the Artists' Quarter of Tzfat - 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. After the poetry readings the venue was opened to the public and a Hassidic-looking band played blues and jazz. For fuller information and a few photos to convey the atmosphere, see our Tzfat Poetry Event page. Thanks to Reuven Goldfarb for organizing this event!
What our Members Have Been Doing: congratulations to:
Matthew Anish of the USA, whose poem “Hope for Humanity” was published in the June 2019 issue of Conceit magazine, and also has two poems in the anthology Leisure, a collection of poetry from the poets of the Green Pavilion. This after we recently congratulated Matthew for having a poem published in the April 16 edition of The New York Times and three poems published in the May issue of Mystical Muse.
Stanley Barkan, Helen Bar-Lev, Lidia Chiarelli/Actis, and Bernard Mann whose poems have been published in the E-book of Universal Oneness Poetry Anthology, Magnum Opus.
Michael E. Stone, whose book Armenia Views has been published by Yerevan: Hayastan Press. The book is illustrated by Jerusalem artist, Nicole Levy. It is available from Michael at stone.michael.e@me.com for $6.50 (Voices and IAWE Members $5.50 or NIS 20).
University of Jerusalem - who on June 11, 2019, along with five of his colleagues, was chosen as a new member of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The official induction ceremony will take place at the Academy in Jerusalem during Chanukah 2019.
Mann, Stanley Barkan and Carolyn Kleefeld. The E-Book is available for free download from Immagine & Poesia and is readable online at ISSUU.
Avril Meallem (together with her poetry partner Shernaz Wadia in India) for having had published two Tapestry poems: Scarred for Life published in the special edition 'Women, Power & Creativity' in the March, 2019 issue of SETU: a Bilingual Journal of Literature, Arts and Culture (Pittsburgh, USA) and Homeland published in the April 2019 edition of “Narrow Road” a Triannual Indian Literary e-magazine.
Kaila Shabat, who has five poems published in Poesia Sin Fronteras III, 2018. Her poems have been translated from English to Hebrew and to Spanish.
Ruth Fogelman whose book, What Color are Your Dreams? was published by Of the Essence Press and is available in Israel directly from Ruth and outside Israel on Amazon.com. Thanks also to Ruth for so ably organizing the Jerusalem group each month for ten years! And to Avril Meallem who has taken over as coordinator of the Jerusalem group meetings.
Esther Schnur-Berlot - for gaining 3rd Honourable Mention ($75.00 prize) in Poetica Publishing Company's 2018 ADRP Award, for her poem "Arguing with the Deceased", and 4th Honourable Mention (also $75.00), for "Everything is Broken".
Helen Bar-Lev - currently a Finalist in the ADRP Award, for her poem "Who Knows?"
Yocheved Zemel whose entire poem "Desert and Rebirth" will be published on the Deronda Review homepage. (It was too long for the print edition.) Her poem "Reaching for the Heavens" will be published in the print edition. In addition, four of Yocheved’s poems will be published in IAWE's arc26 2019 edition: "The Attic", "Freedom", "Flight", and "Love in a War Zone".
The following poets – (in alphabetical order) : Hayim Abramson, Ada Aharoni, Ann Bar-Dov, Helen Bar-Lev, Dr. Judy Belsky, Chaim Bezalel, Lilian Cohen, Wendy Dickstein, Ira Director, Bob Findysz, Ricky Rapoport Friesem, Reuven Goldfarb, Miriam Green, Britta Kollberg, Mark L. Levinson, Celia Merlin, Helen Schary Motro, Pesach Rotem, Shlomo Sher, Johnmichael Simon, Yocheved Zemel, whose works were chosen by Editor Dr. Shawn Edrei for IAWE’s arc26. The launch was held on April 4, 2019, 18:30-21:30, at the Mazeh 9 Center, Tel Aviv.
Lidia Chiarelli of our Affiliate, Immagine & Poesia, whose book Sunset in Cup won First Prize at Premio Letterario Internazionale “Cinque Terre – Golfo dei Poeti" PORTOVENERE.
Matthew Anish who had two poems published in the recent anthology Leisure - which publishes poems of the Green Pavilion reading taking place the last Wednesday of each month.
Esther Cameron whose poem In the Inner Court: A Purim Monodrama was published in Sasson Magazine.
Rumi Morkin (aka Miriam Webber) whose poem "Smartphones" was published in Sasson Magazine, October 2018 (see https://sassonmag.com/smartphonesby-rumi-morkin/); and whose poem "Utopia" has been accepted for publishing in the Deronda Review of 2019.
Judy Koren whose poem "Utopias" has been accepted for publishing in the Deronda Review of 2019.
Ruth Fogelman who has had two poems published in the February issue of The Seventh Quarry.
Matthew Anish whose poem was published in the December/January issue of The Amulet. Matthew also has a chapbook, Golden Words, available for purchase at $7.00. You may reach him at greatceasersghost1@gmail.com.
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.