Etgar Keret: Celebrated author feels the world is losing its story

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with celebrated writer Etgar Keret.

Etgar Keret, a leading voice in Israeli literature, with books published in over four dozen languages, talks about how his perception of writing has changed since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught.

Using typical Keret metaphors and description, he explains the challenges of the times, how he once wrote about ethics and ideas and community, and finds that those more abstract ideas have evaporated.

Keret speaks at length about the disadvantages of being an Israeli artist in the public sphere, as audiences wait to hear something they don't like.

He also discusses social media in this time period and the shifts in the artist-audience relationship. Keret's Substack newsletter, Alphabet Soup, has become a more amenable space in which to share his short stories and ideas.

Keret, who teaches creative writing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, now directs a new MFA program at the Jewish Theological Seminary and he speaks about his students and his desire to make a small but important change by leading the group of nascent writers.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

IMAGE: Acclaimed author Etgar Keret speaks to What Matters Now host Jessica Steinberg for this week's podcast (Courtesy)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(100)

Haviv Rettig Gur: Is the IDF justified in picking off Hamas terrorists?

Welcome to "A Mandatory Listen," a new weekly podcast in which The Times of Israel deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan asks the big questions facing Israel and the Jewish people. For this inaugural epis...

23 Sep 58min

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: Hamas is to blame for October 7 and Gaza's ‘collateral damage’

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the he...

17 Sep 55min

Yohanan Plesner: 3 existential issues facing Israel’s voters

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with the head of the Israel Democracy Institute...

10 Sep 44min

Jonathan Greenblatt: Surging antisemitism brings ADL to a moment of reckoning

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jon...

3 Sep 45min

Yossi Klein Halevi: Why Jewish extremism is so seductive - and dangerous

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with author Yossi Klein Halevi. The Hartman Ins...

19 Aug 57min

Richard Priem: The ‘age of security’ has ended for US Jews

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with CEO of Community Security Service Richard ...

12 Aug 43min

Dan Ben-David: Israel is on the brink of a spiral of collapse

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with leading economist Prof. Dan Ben-David. Ben...

5 Aug 51min

Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz: Nothing is black and white in Israel's religious societies

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, th...

29 Jul 45min