A bissle culture

July 6, 2010 - 10:17 PM by Jessica

Keret and Safran Foer overlooking the Old City walls

A friend just commented upon hearing writers Etgar Keret and Jonathan Safran Foer at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, “Take-home quote of the night: ‘Something good will come from filling these pages’ (what JSF says to himself) and [which] I will now make my mantra.”

It’s all thanks to the Jerusalem Cultural Fellowship and the Foundation for Jewish Culture that literary power couple JSF (author of (Everything is Illuminated) and his wife, Nicole Krauss (The History of Love), are spending some time in Israel. Just named two of the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40″, they are some of the artists who are part of Mishkenot’s new program, which is reviving the tradition of inviting artists to reside and create at the center, a sort of artists-in-residence situation. They will also be conducting master classes and participating in events open to the public, continuing the literary discussions from the recent Writer’s Festival in May. Hence, the opportunity for Safran Foer and Keret to continue their May conversation (also continued in New York on several occasions), and for Nicole Krauss to meet with Yoram Kaniuk.

On Midnight East, “an online magazine dedicated to obsessive involvement with the Israeli cultural scene,” Nicole Krauss was quoted as saying that Jerusalem is “a kind of home away from home”, while her husband, JSF, feels that Jerusalem is “the kind of place that inspires creation.”

And Elise Bernhardt, the CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Culture, comments in her blog that writers love it in Jerusalem and at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, because of the particular peace and quiet of the place.

Here’s to some good writing.

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