
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 around 150 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?
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.
What We're Doing
We've announced the winners of the 2020 Reuben Rose competition:
- First prize: “David’s Shield,” by Ricky Rapoport Friesem (Israel)
- Second prize: “Lantern Fish,” by Jane Seitel (USA)
- Third prize: “The Burden of Memory,” by Esther B. Lipton (UK)
We've extended the submission period for the 2nd Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize to the end of February 2021. Do pass on this information to any families with teenage children who like to write poetry in English! For details, see our Bar Sagi Prize webpage.
We held our first "mini-workshop" - two one-hour presentation-plus-exercise sessions, via Zoom - on December 29th, on the subject of Metrical Poetry. The 25 participants seemed to enjoy it, and there were no technical glitches. We look forward to publishing an e-chapbook of edited versions of the poems produced at the workshop. We have another workshop planned for early March, right after Purim - details TBA.
We held the joint awards event for the first Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize plus the 2019 Reuben Rose competition on October 27th, 2020, via Zoom. Once again we had a great attendance with over 40 people zooming in to hear the young winners of the Bar Sagi prize, and the more seasoned winners of the Reuben Rose competition, read their winning poems. At the end of the event we held an Open Mike at which 14 of our members read their poems. Further details of this lovely and much-appreciated event are on the competitions' respective pages:
- The Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize event: see the Bar Sagi Awards Event page. The texts of the winning poems and one Honourable Mention poem can be accessed and downloaded from that page or directly via this link (PDF file).
- The Reuben Rose competition event: see the 2019 Competition Prizegiving page; the texts of the poems can be accessed and downloaded from that page or directly via this link (PDF file).
We held the 2020 Voices Israel Anthology launch event on September 22nd. Over 50 members attended from Israel and abroad, and 37 read their poems - our biggest event ever! We were delighted to welcome members zooming in from Ireland, the UK, the USA and Canada. For a fuller account of this lovely event, and screenshots from our Zoom video of it, see the 2020 Anthology Launch page.
- New members can join us, and current members can renew their membership, via PayPal from our Join Us or Renew Membership page.
- Non-members can buy our annual Anthology, and members can order extra copies of it, via PayPal from our Buying the Anthology page.
We've updated the Members' Directory, including adding our new members and adding bios from among those submitted for the anthology. Please check your entry in the Directory and if anything needs changing - or if you don't have a bio in there and want to send us one, let our webmistress know! Members please note that it's arranged by region you live in - in a few cases this is not the same as the group you attend.
We've added several poetry magazines to the list of those that accept international submissions on the Literary Magazines page of our Resource List - and to the list of those that have published our members' poems in the past year - worth checking out if you're looking for a new place to publish in.
Visit to the National Library: on Thursday February 5th a strong contingent of Voices members from all over Israel visited the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. We fulfilled the legal requirement to deposit two copies of the 2019 Voices Israel Anthology with the Library; many of our group of poets also deposited their own poetry publications, in accordance with the National Book Law. We were then treated to the privilege of an especially curated exhibition of poetic treasures, by the museum's chief archivist.
What our Members Have Been Doing
December 2020: congratulations to:
Ellen Jaffe (USA), whose 2006 young-adult novel, Feast of Lights (for readers 10-14 or so) has been published as a Kindle e-book, (the paper edition is out of print).
Judy Koren, whose terzanelle “A Night of Rain” has been accepted by the literary magazine Better Than Starbucks for publication in the February 2021 issue, in their Formal Poetry section.
November 2020: congratulations to:
Yochanan Zaqantov, whose second e-book of poetry has been published on Amazon. It is titled “Modern Romantic Poetry” under Yochanan’s pen name, Ivan Labombarbe.
Pesach Rotem, whose poem “Light and Darkness” has been published in Open Arts Forum at https://openartsforum.com/elections-matter/#Pesach_Rotem.
Donna Bechar, whose poem, “Hers” is published in the new 2020 IAWE Anthology, arc28, The Kiss, to be launched on December 17 on Zoom.
Judy Koren, whose poem “Midnight Cricket” has been accepted for publication in Lighten Up Online – the online magazine of humorous verse.
David Fellerman, who has been interviewed by Judaica Spotlight highlighting his life, his art, and his poetry. https://judaicainthespotlight.com/meet-the-artist-david-fellerman/
October 2020: congratulations to:
Susan Olsburgh, who was awarded a Volunteer of the Year by AACI for her 10 years running the monthly workshop, Poetry Please, now in its tenth year. Susan introduces a selection of poems on topics such as medicine, sports, music and place names.
Pesach Rotem, whose poem “Professor Hofstadter’s Brain” was nominated for a Best of the Net Award by Synchronized Chaos Magazine, https://www.facebook.com/synchchaos/posts/3296515140394937.
Rick Lupert (of Poetry Super Highway, one of our affiliated organizations) who has published his 25th book, The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express, poems written last summer while Rick was in Japan.
September 2020: congratulations to:
Wendy Dickstein, whose poem “Esther’s Angels” was published by the Jewish Book Council in its Berru Poetry series: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/esthers-angels
Anne Hall Levine (USA), whose poem “My Rose of Sharon” has been published in Poetica Magazine Contemporary Jewish Writing. See https://www.poeticamagazine.com/anne-hall-levine.
Judy Koren, who has had three poems published in different sections of the September issue of the light-verse webzine, Lighten Up Online: https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-51-september-2020; and whose poem "Heatwave" has been published in the formal-poetry section of the September/October issue of Better Than Starbucks: https://www.betterthanstarbucks.org/poetry-unplugged
August 2020: congratulations to:
Seymour Mayne, whose book, Perfume: Poems and Word Sonnets, has been published
by St. Catharines, Ontario: Ronald P. Frye & Co. See here for further details.
David Fellerman, who is showing his paintings in an exhibition at the Ben Ami Gallery Summer Sale in Tel Aviv. The exhibit opened on July 30th and runs through August 25th. As a bonus, each of his art pieces contains a poem of his that relates to the title of the painting. You can see his gallery of work on his website at www.davidfellerman.com
July 2020: a quiet month for publications, apparently. But congratulations to:
Wendy Blumfield – whose essay “Coping with Social Isolation, including a photo of Wendy with her late husband, David, was published in the June 8, 2020 issue of The Jerusalem Report. It is online at https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/coping-with-social-isolation-628574.
Judy Koren – whose poem "Dear Adam" was one of the winners of Lighten Up Online's March competition, and whose poem "Jaffa, as Microcosm" has been published in the June 2020 issue of the Taj Mahal Review.
Michael Stone, whose poem “Fresh Air” has been published in the 2019 Poetry Edition of Mizmor Anthology.
June 2020: our members have been busy! Congratulations to:
Judith R. Robinson, who was named Featured Poet in the current issue of PoetryMagazine. See http://www.poetrymagazine.com/poetry_magazine_zawinski_judith_r_robinson.html.
Stanley Barkan, Helen Bar-Lev, Lidia Chiarelli, and Carolyn Mary Kleefeld, whose poems and/or paintings have been published in the 2020 Anthology of Immagine & Poesia. See Immagine & Poesia 2020 Anthology
Ruth Fogelman whose latest three poems, "Jerusalem's Air," "City of Dreamers and Dreams" and "Precious City" have been published in The Deronda Review in honor of Jerusalem Day.
Channah Moshe, who has two poems published in Prosopisia: "Agam Hachoula" and "Ahead."
Ada Aharoni, whose poem “Time in Abadan” and a story “Nona Zina’s Time” have been published in the new ARC Magazine, number 22, published by IAWE - Israeli Association of Writers in English.
Helen Bar-Lev,
whose Poems of Love and Loss, “Now or Before or Soon” and “Quickly” have been
published in the Reiter’s Block magazine dated April 21, 2020.
Shoshana Kent, who
has published her first book through Amazon (her second to date altogether). It is an illustrated poem, for children as well as adults, called “I Don’t Know Age.”
Esther Berlot, whose
memoir chapbook “Changing Conversations” was published as a new voice in
poetry by Moonstone Press in Philadelphia.
Michael Stone, whose poem “Beauty Unrolling” has been published in the Spring – 2020 issue of The Avocet, A Journal of Nature Poetry.
Immanuel Suttner, who
has launched his second collection of poetry, Ripening (Quartz Press); it includes several poems with Jewish or Israeli themes.
May 2020: Congratulations to:
The Winners of the Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize. First prize
goes to Ester Belokurov; Second prize to Yaara Heller; Third prize to Haya
Moukouri; and Honorable Mention to Liraz Eliszda.
Helen Bar-Lev, whose Panku poems “Virus isolation” and “Corona Aloneness” have been published in the April 2020 Issue 006 of Devour Art & Lit Canada.
Stanley H. Barkan, Rifkah Goldberg, Susan Olsburgh and Judith R. Robinson whose poems have been published in the 22nd Annual Yom HaShoah Issue of Poetry Super Highway.
Rumi Morkin (aka Miriam Webber) who has had two poems accepted for the April issue of Narrow Road. Also special congratulations to Miriam on the birth of a great-granddaughter - Mazal Tov!
Judy Koren whose poem "Neverland" has been published in the Spring issue of The Road Not Taken - A Journal of Formal Poetry.
Steven (Shlomo) Sher, whose new book of poems, What Comes from the Heart: Poems in the Jewish Tradition was published in March 2020 by Cyberwit in India. In addition, Steven’s book, Contestable Truths, Incontestable Lies is now available directly from Dos Madres Press or through Small Press Distribution.
Miriam Davis from Nazareth Illit (Haifa group) - special congratulations on the birth of a great-grandson. Mazal tov Miriam!
March 2020: congratulations to:
Immanuel Suttner, whose
second collection of poetry, “Ripening” has been published by Quartz press. The
book will be available on Amazon later this month.
David Silverman, whose
book of poetry, “And God Created Hummus” has been published by a Chicago
publisher, Glass Lyre Press.
Miriam Webber (aka Rumi
Morkin), whose short story “The
Sheep Saga – a social revolution” has been published in the latest issue of
Prosopisia; whose poem “Building our House” will appear in the coming issue
of the Deronda Review; and whose poem “The spyder”
(inspidered by William Blake) was accepted by Narrow Road for the
December 2019 issue. See https://issuu.com/narrowroad.mag/docs/narrow_road_dec_19
Reuven Goldfarb, whose poem "Amici" was accepted for publication in the Deronda Review.
Linda Goldberg, whose story “Everyone Should Be Treated With Dignity” has been published in Building Blocks Magazine,
February 2020: Congratulations to:
Isaac Cohen, whose poem "Dream" was published in the January 2020 edition of Tamili and translated into Tamil, and six of whose poems were published in Atunis Poetry Magazine's 2020 Anthology.
January 2020: Congratulations t0:
Richard Shavei-Tzion, who was chosen as Poetry Super Highway Poet of the Week for his poem “The last thing my father did for me”. See, http://poetrysuperhighway.com/psh/december-9-15-2019-poetry-from-richard-leach-and-richard-shavei-tzion/
Rumi Morkin, (pen name of Miriam Webber), whose poem “The spyder” (inspidered by William Blake) has been accepted by Narrow Road for the December 2019 issue. See https://issuu.com/narrowroad.mag/docs/narrow_road_dec_19
Steven Sher, who has published a new book of poems (Nov. 2019) “Contestable Truths, Incontestable Lies” which chronicles his ‘immigrant reality’ in Jerusalem.
Matthew Anish, who had two poems published in the December 2019 issue of Conceit magazine: "Dreaming an Electric Reality" and "My Rock and Roll Friend."
Hannah Moshe, whose poem Hainault Forest has been published in Seventh Quarry (Wales) 2019, The haiku Petals of Awareness which she also wrote is also published there, but was unfortunately erroneously attributed to her mother (who is also a poet).
Susan Rosenberg, who has recently celebrated her 95th birthday! We wish you good health and happiness till 120, Susan!