Ribalow Prize

The Ribalow Prize is a literary prize awarded annually by Hadassah Magazine the best work of fiction in English on a Jewish theme.

The prize, formally the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, was endowed in memory of Harold U. Ribalow, an American writer, editor, and anthologist.

The inaugural prize was given in 1983 to Chaim Grade for the short story collection Rabbis and Wives. The stories, first published in Yiddish, were translated into English and published by Knopf in 1982.

YearAuthorTitlePublisherShortlist
1983Chaim GradeRabbis and WivesKnopf
1984Francine ProseHungry HeartsPantheon Books
1985Max AppleFree AgentsHarperCollins
1986Lore SegalHer First AmericanKnopf
1987Aharon AppelfeldTo the Land of the CattailsWeidenfeld & Nicolson
1988Anne RoipheLovingkindnessShambhala Publications
1989Anita DesaiBaumgartner's BombayKnopf
1990Lynne Sharon SchwartzLeaving BrooklynHoughton Mifflin
1991Sandra SchorThe Great Letter ENorth Point Press
1991Michelle HermanMissingOhio State University Press
1992Louis BegleyWartime LiesKnopf
1993Merrill Joan GerberThe Kingdom of BrooklynLongstreet Press
1994Carol de Chellis HillHenry James' Midnight SongW. W. Norton & Company
1994Michael BlumenthalWeinstock Among the DyingZoland Books
1995Magda BoginNatalya Gods MessengerCharles Scribner's Sons
1996Benjamin TaylorTales Out of SchoolTurtle Point Press
1997Robert CohenThe Here and NowCharles Scribner's Sons
1998Anne MichaelsFugitive PiecesMcClelland & Stewart
1999Richard TelekyThe Paris Years of Rosie KaminSteerforth Press
2000Todd GitlinSacrificeMetropolitan Books
2001Myla GoldbergBee SeasonBantam Books
2002Elizabeth RosnerThe Speed of LightBallantine Books
2003Jonathan Safran FoerEverything Is IlluminatedHoughton Mifflin
2003Aryeh Lev StollmanThe Illuminated SoulRiverhead Books
2004Joseph EpsteinFabulous Small JewsHoughton Mifflin
2005Jenna BlumThose Who Save UsHoughton Mifflin
2006Tamar YellinThe Genizah at the House of ShepherToby Press
2007Dara HornThe World to ComeW. W. Norton & Company
2008Nathan EnglanderThe Ministry of Special CasesKnopf
2009Peter ManseauSongs for the Butcher's DaughterFree Press
2010Sara HoughtelingPictures at an ExhibitionKnopf
2011Howard JacobsonThe Finkler QuestionBloomsbury
2012Edith PearlmanBinocular Vision: New & Selected StoriesLookout Books
2013Francesca SegalThe InnocentsHachette Books
2014Helene WeckerThe Golem and the JinniHarperCollins
2015Molly AntopolThe UnAmericansW. W. Norton & CompanyThe Mathematician’s Shiva by Stuart Rojstaczer (Penguin/Random House) and The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis (Back Bay Books/Little Brown)
2016Jim Shepard The Book of AronKnopf
2017Rose TremainThe Gustav SonataChatto & WindusThe Beautiful Possible by Amy Gottlieb and As Close to Us as Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner
2018Carol ZorefBarren IslandNew Issues Poetry & Prose
2019Michael David LukasThe Last Watchman of Old CairoRandom House