Novelist Austin Ratner (pictured, via) has won the Jewish Book Council’s $100,000 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature in fiction for his debut novel The Jump Artist (Bellevue Literary Press).
This small press has had a great year. Last April, Bellevue author Paul Harding won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Tinkers. Runner up Joseph Skibell (A Curable Romantic) will receive the $25,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Choice Award.
The three Sami Rohr Prize finalists are listed below. Here’s more about the award: “Established in 2006, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is the largest monetary award of its kind given to writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career.”
Allison Amend – Stations West (Louisiana State University Press)
Nadia Kalman– The Cosmopolitans (Livingston Press)
Julie Orringer—The Invisible Bridge (Knopf)