This year again, we had hoped to hold the launch of Volume 47 of the Voices Israel Anthology with a face-to-face event at the Netanya Stage Bar. But our members eyed the ever-changing Corona situation and decided to stay virtual. So on October 3rd 2021, 33 avid members gathered via Zoom. Once again this had the advantage that several of our overseas members could join us – from the UK, Canada and as far away as the Pacific coast of the USA.
Once again, too, we welcomed two new members who joined us this year and attended the launch. Of the 33 people who attended, 29 (and one proxy reader) read their poems from the Anthology, to our great enjoyment.
The Anthology was sent out in late August. It’s a beautiful volume and I received many compliments on its appearance and its content. The kudos for the first should go to Avril Meallem, our new designer and producer of the Anthology. I can’t begin to thank her for all the time and effort she has put into the production of this anthology, and how creative and yet detail-oriented she has been. The results are visible on every page.
The kudos for the second – the content – is due to Dina Yehuda, our long-term, dedicated Chief Editor, who oversaw the entire project, right down to the initial proof-reading, as well as being one of the judges. She has once again produced a volume containing a series of quality poems arranged in a logical flow of themes. And once again – being unable to express our gratefulness and admiration with a presentation via Zoom, we’ve mailed her a Steimatsky gift card as a small token of our appreciation.
Heartfelt thanks also to the editorial team of David Silverman, Edit Gavriely and Yehudit Goldfarb. Thanks too, to Helen Bar-Lev, for doing the final proof-read. And last but not least, to our Treasurer Chanita Millman, who not only handles the financial side of anthology orders but also mails the right number of copies to the right people, year after year – a tremendous job. In this as in so many Voices activities – we couldn’t do it without her!
As usual, we recorded the event on Zoom, and the video is on our YouTube channel. You can also view it directly via this link. Here we’ve put a few screenshots from the video, to give an idea of the feel of the event.
More information about the annual Anthology and how to submit poems to it is detailed under Voices Israel Anthology from the main menu.
Below, from left to right: Ann Bar-Dov, Donna Bechar and Malka Kelter, reading their poems at the event.
Voices Israel Group of Poets in English 