Jewish Storyteller Press was founded in 2007 by Scott Hilton Davis as a way of bringing the stories of 19th century Yiddish writers to 21st-century English-speaking readers through print-on-demand and e-book technology.
Scott’s decision to use these technologies stemmed from an interesting discovery: the Jewish writers he was most interested in presenting to modern readers actually published their own works in the late 1800s. In 1888, Sholem Aleichem published his literary journal, Di yidishe folks-bibliotek (The Jewish People’s Library), and two years later, Jacob Dinezon published I. L. Peretz’s first book of Yiddish stories, Bekante bilder (Familiar Pictures). Throughout the 1890s, Dinezon and Peretz published several additional works, including their own literary journal and a series of periodicals called Yontef bletlekh (Holiday Pages). Scott believes that if these writers were here today, they would have enthusiastically embraced these new publishing technologies. And what better way to keep their names, stories, and literary legacies alive for future generations?
Books published by Jewish Storyteller Press include Jacob Dinezon’s 19th century bestselling romance novel, The Dark Young Man, translated by Tina Lunson; Memories and Scenes: Shtetl, Childhood, Writers, a collection of eleven autobiographical short stories called “a masterpiece” by the Jewish Daily Forward, also translated by Tina Lunson; two novels, Hershele: A Jewish Love Story about a poor yeshiva boy who falls in love with the daughter of a rich widow, and Yosele: A Story from Jewish Life about the tragic experiences of a poor but brilliant schoolboy, both translated by Jane Peppler; Dinezon’s old country novella Falik and His House translated by Mindy Liberman; and Shmuel Rozshanski’s literary biography, Jacob Dinezon: The Mother Among Our Classic Yiddish Writers, translated by Miri Koral.
Jewish Storyteller Press also created the website www.jacobdinezon.com to provide English-translated biographical and research materials related to Jacob Dinezon’s significant contributions to Jewish literature.
For more information about Jewish Storyteller Press, please contact us.