Jake Marmer


YidLit: Admiel Kosman

By Jake Marmer

Sitting down with Israeli poet Admiel Kosman and his translator Lisa Katz (who is a poet in her own right) in the Forward’s podcast studio felt less like a formal interview than a conversation in a dimly lit cafe, extending for hours into the night.Read More


Lost Poems Shed Light on Jerome Rothenberg's Work

By Jake Marmer

Lost Poems Shed Light on Jerome Rothenberg's Work
Author and translator of nearly 100 books of poetry, Jerome Rothenberg is turning 80 this year. A new retrospective of his work includes works that fell between the cracks.Read More


Engineering Epic Poetry

By Jake Marmer

Engineering Epic Poetry
Accepted to Columbia University in 1920, 16-year-old Louis Zukofsky was planning a career in engineering. Instead, the son of Lithuanian immigrants Pinchos and Chana Zukofsky became one of America’s leading Modernist poets and co-founder of the Objectivist movement. His influence remains crucial for many contemporary American avant-garde writers. Wider public reception toward this “poet’s poet’s poet,” however, has varied, in part due to the notorious complexity of much of his writing. A recent resurgence of interest — prompted by the poet’s centennial celebration in 2004 — has culminated in New Directions’ publication this year of two volumes of his work: the epic poem “A,” and “Anew,” a collection of shorter works.Read More


Four Questions for Poetry Month

By Jake Marmer

As part of the Poetry Month celebration hosted by the Forward, we asked a number of poets about their practice. Today we’re featuring the highlights of the responses received. And, as part of its ongoing poem a day celebration of National Poetry Month, The Arty Semite blog will be hosting various works by these poets, among diverse and provoking others.Read More


April Is the Poetry Month

By Jake Marmer

Happy April, the Poetry Month! To the list of festive occasions, picked up in this American goles, or exile — Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, the Hotdog Eating Contest day at Nathan’s in Coney Island — a new one can now be added: April, the Poetry Month. Now in its 15th year, the newly minted holiday was originally instituted by the Academy of American Poets and is an occasion for a wave of readings, publications and all things poetry. We at the Forward are happily joining the festivities.Read More