Around the table there were colorful stories of Bukharan cooking, Iraqi Passover customs, Turkish coffee rituals, Libyan family lore, and other tales woven from a rich treasure trove of Sephardic historical memory.
The 18 Sephardic storytellers were gathered at the Highlights Foundation retreat center in rural Pennsylvania precisely to share story ideas inspired by each of our unique Sephardic backgrounds. As part of PJ Library’s Sephardic Stories Initiative, the cohort of authors has been endowed with the gifts of place, time, mentorship, and camaraderie to explore the diverse facets of our Sephardic heritage, in hopes of translating them onto the printed page as children’s books.
Two years ago I was delighted to be selected to be a fellow of the Year 1 cohort, knowing that I and the six other authors would serve as mentors for future cohorts. The seven of us, a range of picture book authors, middle-grade authors, and graphic novelists, all had published known works with Sephardic content for kids. Even so, we spent the initiative’s first year learning from one another and outside experts about topics to enrich our writing, including new Sephardic demography studies, cutting-edge research tools, and the connection between Sephardic piyyutim (religious poetry) and storytelling. As the author of five Sephardic-themed children’s books, still I knew I had a lot to learn.
At this year’s gathering, each of us original authors was paired with two emerging authors from the Year 2 cohort, whom we would mentor over the course of the next year. This, to me, has been the great gift of PJ Library’s Sephardic Stories Initiative.
We all know that the Jewish experience cannot be boiled down to Seinfeld, matzoh ball soup, or yiddishisms such as schlep and schvitz. While diverse representation in Jewish children’s books has improved dramatically in the last decade, we still have a ways to go to catch up with the demographic reality of the contemporary Jewish landscape. Writing can be a lonely sport, so joining cohorts of Sephardic writers into one large group in which we could derive inspiration from one another was a boost we all needed.
Sephardic storytelling is an artform that goes back millennia, whether we’re talking about tales of Djoha (known as Nasreddin in Muslim folklore), Judeo-Spanish poetry from the Middle Ages, or even songs that have been passed down orally through the generations. The Sephardic Stories Initiative is taking a tradition that resides deep inside us participating authors and enabling us to keep the tradition moving forward for today’s generation of globally minded kids. And that’s not all.
The fact is, we need to see more Sephardic-themed children’s books in bookstores and in libraries. How will children have access to the breadth of Jewish culture if they can’t see this diversity in the books they read at school, find at the library and, yes, even the books sent out by PJ Library? We need more authors who are encouraged and willing to write Sephardic stories, despite the uphill battle in the publishing marketplace. We need to show publishers that readers want to see these types of books, not only for the sake of diversity, but because the stories are great. Pirates! Adventure! Magic! Faraway lands! We have all the elements of compelling stories, and we need more skilled authors to convey these tales for today’s audience.
The Sephardic Stories Initiative is doing just that: helping shepherd along new authors, new works and, best of all, new community. Together, we are developing the knowledge and skills we need as writers, mentors, and advocates to ensure that quality Sephardic-themed books will make it out to the marketplace — and into your children’s hands.
Sarah Aroeste is an award-winning singer-songwriter and children’s book author focused on bringing Sephardic culture to new generations. She has published numerous bilingual Ladino/English books for children such as Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom and Mazal Bueno! Her forth-coming book with PJ Publishing, Bavajadas! That’s Just Silly! is now available at https://www.amazon.com/Bavajadas-Thats-Silly-Sarah-Aroeste/dp/B0FR5C5BQL/.