Jewish Literary Foundation launches initiative to promote emerging playwrights

The diverse group of emerging playwrights that make up this year’s inaugural cohort includes Stella Green, whose recent play Book of Alice was shortlisted for the 2024 George Devine Award; playwright and lyricist Rachel Bellman, who writes across plays and musicals; Sam Thorpe-Spinks, an actor, writer and screenwriter whose debut script The Hoax earned him a place on the 2022 Brit List; Noga Flaishon, whose plays have been recognised by the Papatango Award, Verity Bargate Award and the International Jewish Play Contest; Amitai Landau-Pope, a playwright and theatre director; and Uri Agnon, a composer and theatre-maker.

The Jewish Playwrights Programme is the latest addition to the Jewish Literary Foundation’s range of literary activities celebrating Jewish creativity, from the flagship annual Jewish Book Week festival to the Freudenheim Translation Prize, to the Jewish Children’s Book Awards and the Risa Domb/Porjes Prize for Hebrew/English translation.

It follows the success of the foundation's Genesis Emerging Writers Programme, an initiative that has helped bolster the careers of 50 authors across fiction, non-fiction, and poetry since its 2021 inception.

As Claudia Rubenstein, Director of the Jewish Literary Foundation, said: “The programme builds on our long history of supporting new writers as they develop their craft – giving them recognition, confidence and a platform from which to grow, while ensuring that Jewish writing and ideas continue to flourish.”