Jacob Isaac Segal Awards
2022 J.I. SEGAL PRIZES
2022 Rosa and David Z”L Finestone Translation Award for a Book on a Jewish Theme | $1,000 prize
Justin Cammy for From the Vilna Ghetto to Nuremberg: Memoir and Testimony.
See the prize announcement here.
Watch the video here.
2022 Best Quebec Book on a Jewish Theme | $5,000 prize
Anne Élaine Cliche for Le danseur de La Macaza.
See the prize announcement here.
Watch the video with a short interview with Anne Élaine Cliche here.
2022 Dr. Hirsh and Dvora Rosenfeld Award for Yiddish Literature | $1,000 prize
Michael Felsenbaum for A mesoyre vegn a freylekher libe-shmibe.
See the prize announcement here.
Watch the video with Michael reading a poem in Yiddish (English subtitles) here.
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!
MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF GREAT JEWISH BOOKS
Since 1969 when the Jacob Isaac Segal Awards were first given out at the Jewish Public Library in downtown Montreal, the prizes have served as a source of enormous pride for Jewish Montreal. Not only did the prizes show (and show off) Montreal’s vibrant and diverse Jewish community to international writers associated with the prizes, they brought people together and established Jewish Montreal as a centre of Jewish life in Canada.
Today, more than 50 years after that first Prize Ceremony, the J.I. Segal Awards continue to evolve to reflect evolving Jewish communities.
There are three prizes are awarded for:
- Best Quebec Book on a Jewish Theme, with a prize of $5,000.
- Dr. Hirsh and Dvora Rosenfeld Award for Yiddish Literature $1,000)
- Rosa and David Z”L Finestone Translation Award for a Book on a Jewish Theme ($1,000).
Since 2020, the Best Quebec Book on a Jewish Theme award also honours the contribution of Jewish culture to a richly diverse contemporary Quebec.
About Jacob Issac Segal
Jacob Isaac Segal (1896-1954) is acknowledged as one of the most respected Yiddish poets. His work is characterized by its deep lyrical expression and evocation of the dignity of Jewish life in the Eastern European shtetl and in Canada. Segal strove to show that “a people and its culture are inseparable.” His poetry lives on in Yiddish and in translation.
About the awards
The Jacob Isaac Segal Awards of the Jewish Public Library were established in 1968 to honour and perpetuate the memory of the great Canadian Yiddish poet J.I. Segal. They are made possible by the J.I. Segal Cultural Foundation, founded by the late Dr. Hirsh Rosenfeld and Mrs. Dvora Rosenfeld. Awarded every two years, the prizes seek to encourage and reward creative work on Jewish themes and to recognize contributions to Jewish knowledge.
Jacob Issac Segal Awards: 2020 Winners
BEST QUEBEC BOOK
ON A JEWISH THEME
DR. HIRSH & DVORA ROSENFELD AWARD FOR
YIDDISH LITERATURE
ROSA AND DAVID Z”L FINESTONE TRANSLATION AWARD
FOR A BOOK ON A JEWISH THEME
Pierre Samson
Le Mammouth
Borris Sandler
Antiques from my Travel Bag
Goldie Morgentaler
Collected edition of translated pieces by Chava Rosenfarb
Lori St-Martin
and Paul Gagné Sandler
Yiddish for Pirates
