The Voices Israel Group of Poets in English started in response to a letter from Leslie Summers published in the Jerusalem Post, July, 1971. The four founding members, Leslie Summers, Reuben Rose, Moshe-Ben-Zvi and Jacob Katwan, held their first meeting in August of that year. From this small beginning, the organization has grown to a membership of 160 poets in Israel and many other countries. We are a fully-accredited and approved non-profit organization registered since 1993 with the Israeli Organizations Registrar (registration no. 580197036).
Our Goals
- to provide an outlet for writers of English poetry in Israel
- to encourage new poets in their art
- to promote international friendships through poetry
How we achieve them
- Members read their work at monthly group meetings in their town or locality, for friendly discussion and positive critique.
- One or two poems from each group’s meeting are published in the Voices Newsletter each month.
- We hold workshops two or three times a year. For more information, see our Workshops page.
- We hold an annual competition in memory of Reuben Rose, the founding editor. Submissions, which are anonymous, are judged by a panel of three independent judges. Cash prizes totaling $1,100 are awarded as well as publication of the winning poems and those awarded honorable mentions.
- We publish an annual Anthology of the best poems submitted by our members (and non-members). For details see our Anthology page.
- We encourage membership by interested poets from other countries, and publish a monthly selection of their contributions in the Voices newsletter along with those chosen at each meeting by our Israeli members.
- We encourage our members to publish abroad, for instance by publishing calls for submission in our newsletter, and via workshops on aspects of publishing abroad.
Check out this website, and our Facebook page, for the latest news of what we’re doing.
Our Groups
Some of our groups meet face to face, and some via Zoom. We currently have Voices Israel groups in the cities of Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Netanya, and in the regions of Upper Galilee, Sharon (together with Netanya) and Southern Israel (together with Western Galilee members via Zoom). In addition we have a Global Group, held permanently via Zoom, for overseas and Israeli members who do not have a local group or are unable to attend one.
Thinking of joining us?
Non-members are welcome to attend any of our groups as guests, for two or three meetings before deciding whether to join us. Please contact in advance the coordinator of the group you’d like to attend. A list of our officers and group coordinators is on the Our Team page.
Decided to join us? See the Join Us or Renew Membership page. We look forward to having you with us!
Voices Israel Group of Poets in English 