The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature has unveiled its 2026 shortlist, with four works of nonfiction in contention for the award given annually to “an emerging writer who demonstrates the potential for continued contribution to the world of Jewish literature.”
Amir Tibon made the shortlist for The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel's Borderlands, his account of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.
Jordan Salama was named a finalist for Stranger in the Desert: A Family Story, his memoir about traveling through the Argentine Andes in an attempt to find descendants of his Syrian-born great-grandfather, who worked there in the 1920s.
Laura Hobson Faure was shortlisted for Who Will Rescue Us?: The Story of the Jewish Children Who Fled to France and America During the Holocaust, her account of children who found safety in the U.S. during the Nazi regime.
Shaul Kelner made the shortlist for A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized To Free Soviet Jews, which tells the story of Americans who demanded that Washington pressure the Soviet Union to liberate Jewish people in the country.
“These four books move between the personal and the historical, offering powerful ways of understanding the Jewish experience today,” Debra Goldberg, director of the Sami Rohr Prize, said in a news release. “Together, they reflect the depth and range of contemporary Jewish nonfiction.”
The Sami Rohr Prize, which comes with a cash award of $100,000, was established in 2007 and alternates annually between fiction and nonfiction. The prize was named after the real estate developer and philanthropist who died in 2012. Previous winners include Sana Krasikov for One More Year; Gal Beckerman for When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone; and Menachem Kaiser for Plunder.
The winner of this year’s prize will be announced later this year.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
