“Underground Fugue,” by author and professor Margot Singer, has been shortlisted for the Jewish Book Council Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Singer is one of five authors nominated for the award, which holds a $100,000 prize to support their writing. The second prize of $18,000 and three remaining presentations of $5,000 each to be announced at the beginning of May will be celebrated at a private event at the new Moise Safra Center in New York City. This is one of the largest literary prizes in the U.S. and by far the largest literary award in Jewish life.
“Underground Fugue” weaves together the lives of the four principal characters who have been touched by the 2005 London transit bombings. Singer was awarded the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for the book.
Established in 2007, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature honors emerging writers who explore the Jewish experience and demonstrate the potential for continued contribution to Jewish literature. Their careers are fostered both by the prize and the continuing contact, meetings and workshops sponsored by the organization. This has helped foster, for the first time in American Jewish history, a Jewish literary community. English language writers from anywhere in the world are eligible for this Prize. Fiction and non-fiction works are considered in alternate years. The independent jury consists of journalists, academics and publishing professionals.