PLEA TO AUTHORS

BRITISH children’s writers are being asked to submit manuscripts to PJ Library and its sister programme for nine- to 11-yearolds, PJ Our Way, which is currently unavailable in the UK.

Last year, nearly six million books were sent out across the two schemes to readers in 20 countries including the US and Canada.

In June, PJ Library in the UK is organising an event to introduce writers to the programmes. “The authors don’t have to be Jewish,” said Madelyn Travis, chair of the content advisory committee for PJ Library in the UK and a member of the book selection committee for PJ Our Way. “But they should be interested in writing Jewish content or Jewish characters in principle. For the middle-grade programme, it can be a major secondary character that is Jewish.”

Senior staff from the States and Israel will come over for the event. The team will also be in contact with UK publishers and agents.

Each programme currently offers an “author incentive award” of $2k-$5k for an accepted manuscript. The first recipient of the PJ Our Way award was British author Miriam Halahmy, whose novel Saving Hanno is being published in April by Holiday House.