The Jewish Book Council announced the winner of the second annual Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature today. The Rohr Prize is worth $100,000 and is one of the richest literary prizes in the world.
This year’s prize goes to a non-fiction book, and the winner is…
[Lucette] Lagnado picked up the $100,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for “The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World.â€? …
Lagnado’s book is based on the story of her aristocratic Jewish family’s mid-20th century flight from Egypt and eventual resettling in Brooklyn. They formed part of the mass exodus of 1 million Jews from their Arab homelands in the wake of the founding of Israel.
Two $7,500 Choice Awards also were named: Ilana Blumberg for “Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books,� and Eric Goldstein for “The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity.�
