Poetry and Ping-Pong to Make the Most of Long Winter Nights

Friedel and Gina by Jeremy Dronfield

(Quill Tree Books)

March 10, 2026

A HISTORIAN, author, and former archeologist, Jeremy Dronfield has a reputation for blending technical accuracy with compelling and emotional stories. In an earlier book, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz, Dronfield demonstrated his knack for telling real, hard, stories of surviving the Shoah for young-adult readers. This new work follows twin sisters whose childhood in Germany collapses with the rise of Nazism. At only fourteen years old, the sisters are forced to cope with deportation, ghettos, and concentration camps all by themselves. Sophia Hershfield

Fragments of a Future Scroll by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

(Ayin Press)

December 30, 2025

RABBI ZALMAN Schachter-Shalomi (1924–2014) — better known as Reb Zalman — interwove his devotion to Lubavitch Hasidism (he was one of the first shluchim, or emissaries, of the Lubavitcher rebbe) with a zeal for spiritual innovation, ecstatic prayer, and environmental consciousness. He founded the Jewish Renewal movement, and his impact (much like the rainbow-striped tallit he popularized) is now ubiquitous. Fragments of a Future Scroll was his first book; originally published by a small press in 1975, it has long been out of print. The rollicking, mind-bending text is Zalman’s initial attempt at describing Judaism’s unfolding place within an emergent “planetary consciousness” — and the capstone of nearly twenty years of spiritual exploration he conducted in the course of serving as Hillel director in Winnipeg. This fiftieth-anniversary edition presents an updated version of the original, alongside essays by Shaul Magid, Tirzah Firestone, and others to guide modern readers as they (re)discover this extraordinary text. Zachary Kauffman

Night Night Fawn by Jordy Rosenberg

(One World)

March 3, 2026

MEET BARBARA ROSENBERG: a yenta, a homophobe, and now a terminally ill woman, writing the story of her life from her Manhattan apartment. Blending her retelling of her marriage, career, and dramatic aspirations with her chaotic, embittered reflections on Karl Marx, philosophy, and the Jewish diaspora, she tries to come to terms with her two greatest disappointments: an estranged trans son, and a best friend whose betrayal still haunts her. Author of Confessions of the Fox, Jordy Rosenberg is known for tackling the messy intersections of family, identity, and regret through sharply written characters. Sophia Hershfield

Walter Benjamin: The Pearl Diver by Peter E. Gordon

(Yale University Press)

February 24, 2026

GREATLY UNDERAPPRECIATED during his lifetime, Walter Benjamin is now regarded as one of the most significant thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Berlin in 1892, Benjamin was a literary critic, philosopher, cultural theorist, and kabbalist. His most famous essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” explored how then-new technologies, like photography and cinema, were changing not just art but the way we see and experience the world. A Marxist with mystical leanings, Benjamin’s work defies easy labels: part poetry, part theory, always searching for the hidden meanings in everyday life. This new biography proposes to situate Benjamin within his Jewish heritage and the turbulent politics and philosophies of the twentieth century. Sophia Hershfield

My Great-Grandfather Danced Ballet by Misha Solomon

(Brick Books)

March 15, 2026

THIS POETRY COLLECTION by the Montreal writer and Concordia University scholar, who has been published in every Canadian literary journal imaginable, envisions alternative realities for a queer ancestor. The highly personal collection of poems moves between multiple locations and time periods, including New York City and Romania, as well as Solomon’s contemporary experiences living in Montreal. In his master’s thesis, where he developed this work, Solomon wrote that his hope was to create “metapoems that explore my queer longing” through an innovative Jewish lens. Jonathan Rothman

Sublunary by Lisa Richter

(University of Alberta Press)

March 10, 2026

THIS IS THE THIRD BOOK by the Toronto-based poet. Her last one, 2020’s Nautilus and Bone, took the form of an “auto/biography” of Yiddish-language feminist poet Anna Margolin, and became the first poetry book to win both top prizes at the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards and US-based National Jewish Book Awards. In Sublunary, themes in Richter’s previous work, like memory, grief, and absence, re-emerge — this time woven in with references to mythology and Jewish folklore. Always present: the struggles of holding life’s strangeness alongside its joyful and bewildering elements. Jonathan Rothman

The Garlic Eaters by Madison Safer

(Ayin Press)

March 17, 2026

THE YIDDISH-SPEAKING Garlic Eaters exist blissfully in an allium-based utopia. They live underground in a garlic-bulb house, busy themselves with garlic-centric tasks, dress in garlic skins through the day, and snuggle into garlic cloves to sleep through the night. They are, as the young people say, living their best life. That is, until a rather large mole forces the Garlic Eaters to bolt (forgive me, dear reader) from their pungent abode, and the family must begin the journey to find a new home and community that can accept them and their favourite food just as they are. Readers absorb Yiddish vocabulary, lessons about alienation, and messages about staying true to yourself along the way. Zachary Kauffman

How the Sun Was Won by Tom Haviv and Jessica Tamar Deutsch

(Ayin Press)

March 3, 2026

IN THIS DARKLY MAGICAL FAIRY TALE, the children of a town awake to discover that both the sun and their parents have disappeared. They band together to search for the sun, and walk the streets of the gauzy, dreamlike Nighttime City, encountering strange creatures and neon-lit zoos, new smells and sounds, but no sun. Eventually, one brave girl suggests, if the sun is nowhere to be found, they may have to create one themselves. The book is written by a co-founder of Ayin Press, Tom Haviv, and illustrated by the celebrated visual artist Jessica Tamar Deutsch, best known for her beloved The Illustrated Pirkei Avot; The Lost Princess, a retelling of a classic Rebbi Nachman of Breslov story; and many Jewish zines. Zachary Kauffman

How Do You Jew? by Suzy Ultman

(Rise X Penguin Workshop)

February 10, 2026

FROM WHIMSICAL Judaica to hand-painted nesting dolls, artist, toy maker, and author Suzy Ultman brings joy and colour to everything she does. She is no stranger to children’s books, with titles like Shabbat Shalom and I Like Your Chutzpah in her oeuvre. With bold design and playful storytelling, How Do You Jew? promises to celebrate the many ways Jewishness is lived today across traditions, identities, and communities across the world. Sophia Hershfield

Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II (Vol. 2)

(Yiddish Glory / Six Degrees Records)

January 23, 2026

THE MUSICAL PROJECT, touring live presentation, and ongoing research initiative is back with a fresh batch of recordings of Yiddish songs written during the Holocaust and recovered decades later by University of Toronto professor Anna Shternshis. The first instalment, The Lost Songs of World War II, was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award. This followup includes another 25 tracks, many with themes of pushing back against censorship. Jonathan Rothman

Songs from the Beit Midrash by Deborah Sacks Mintz

(Rising Records)

February 11, 2026

RABBI DEBORAH SACKS MINTZ’S voice is like an acoustic deep-tissue massage. “Lincoln’s Nigun,” for instance, kneads deep into your kishkes, breaks you down, and then lifts you back up again. The eleven new melodies in this album combine the traditional Jewish liturgy with the spiritual fervour and low-grade ecstatic hum of the beit midrash. As usual, the ensemble recordings are supported by a rich chorus of community singers. Sacks Mintz, the Director of Tefillah and Music at the Hadar Institute, is an educator, musician, and facilitator of Jewish communal prayer. She (along with Joey Weisenberg and others in the Rising Song orbit) is part of a cohort of musicians weaving the soundscape of twenty-first century communal worship, and redefining the possibilities for what modern prayer can and should feel like. In recent years her melodies have been picked up by communities across North America and Israel. Zachary Kauffman

Ella McKay directed by James L. Brooks

In theatres December 12, 2026

BEST KNOWN for his contributions to television as a co-creator of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons, Brooks hasn’t steered a movie project in thirteen years. His upcoming political dramedy drama tells the story of an idealistic thirty-four-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state who is about to take over the governorship from her mentor, the long-time incumbent. Emma Mackey plays the titular Ella, and is joined by an all-star ensemble including Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Albert Brooks, Ayo Edebiri, and Kumail Nanjiani. At a time when division and cynicism often dominate our news cycle, a film that humanizes people in politics may be especially welcome. Sophia Hershfield

Song Sung Blue directed by Craig Brewer

In theatres December 25, 2025

NOBODY LOVES a Neil Diamond tribute band more than Neil Diamond: in 2000, he surprised one such band, Super Diamond, onstage in Los Angeles, and he’s made an extended cameo in a comedy featuring another. That devotion to all things Diamond is the jumping-off point for Song Sung Blue, a dramatic take on a beloved 2008 documentary about a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute act. Starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, the film promises to lean into sequins, heartbreak, and the glittery blur between real life and rock-and-roll fantasy.  Sophia Hershfield

Marty Supreme directed by Josh Safdie

In theatres December 25, 2025

IN HIS FIRST theatrical release since his very-Jewish drama film Uncut Gems, director Josh Safdie tackles the strange and wonderful world of competitive ping-pong. Loosely based on the life of professional table tennis player Marty Reisman (played by Timothée Chalamet), the film is the most expensive project yet by indie studio A24. It remains to be seen if Safdie can prove himself without his brother, and if the film is really worth its $70-million price tag. Either way, Marty Supreme promises to be one of the most intriguing indie releases of the year, and a strong candidate for a Christmas Day pairing with some lo mein. Sophia Hershfield