The Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies is presenting the 2023 Edward Lewis Wallant Award on Monday, April 15, at 7 p.m., at the Maurice Greenberg Center. Author Elizabeth Graver is receiving the award for her novel, Kantika. You can register for the free event by emailing mgcjs@hartford.edu.
Kantika is Graver’s fifth novel and was inspired by her grandmother Rebecca, who was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Istanbul and whose shape-shifting life journey took her to Spain, Cuba, and New York. Kantika was named a Best Historical Fiction Book and Notable Book of 2023 by The New York Times and a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Lilith, and Libby. German and Turkish editions are forthcoming.
Graver’s fourth novel, The End of the Point, was long-listed for the 2013 National Book Award in Fiction and selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her other novels are Awake, The Honey Thief, and Unravelling. Her story collection, Have You Seen Me?, won the 1991 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and Best American Essays. She teaches at Boston College.
The Wallant Award is one of the oldest and most prestigious Jewish literary awards in the U.S. It was established by Dr. and Mrs. Irving Waltman of West Hartford in 1963, and honors the memory of the late Edward Lewis Wallant, author of The Pawnbroker and other works of fiction. It is presented to a writer, preferably unrecognized, whose published work of fiction is deemed to have significance to American Jewish history and culture.