Karen Alkalay-Gut

Front cover: A Word in Edgewise

A Word in Edgewise: Ladies from the Bible tell their tales

Poetry.

“God created women but Karen Alkalay-Gut created the poems that define them. She understands why the creation of women was the necessary step in the creation of human life. I love her humor as much as her seriousness.”

— Erica Jong, author of Fear of Flying

“A Word in Edgewise is a super-edgy but also truly wise compilation of the unheard voices of Biblical women. Listen to Eve reminding us of ‘the hunger / that comes from eating,’ Lot’s daughters not getting mad, just getting even, with a father who was prepared to give them away to rapists, Delilah ‘who gets a real rush/ from being on top’ and is proud ‘to go down in history/ as irresistible,’ a Jezebel who craves ‘whatever is forbidden,’ a Hagar perplexed by ‘these monotheists.’ Karen Alkalay-Gut is at the top of her form in this book: truth-telling, compassionate, courageous. Read her and smile, and think yes, that’s how it was, that’s how it is.”

— Alicia Ostriker, author of Waiting for the Light

Front cover of Layers

Layers

Poetry. Published by Simple Conundrum Press, 2012. 

“Karen Alkalay Gut is a lovely poet, with a voice which is lyrical even when most direct. Her entry into old stories is continually surprising, and usually infused with her own emotional history. I found her sense of displacement particularly moving.” 

— Elaine Feinstein

95 pages, ISBN 978-965-77600-00-9

Available in print and for Kindle from Amazon.

Cover Shomrei Neurei

Shomrei Neurei   שומרי נעורי

Poetry.

“I was greatly moved by her profound book.  Alkalay-Gut presents authentic close-ups from her life.  Familiar scenes, which we all share in one variation or another.  A talk with the rabbi about Darwin, an argument with Mother, a virtual/realistic conversation with old people ‘at the front’ (facing death) as the speaker is visiting them at the home for the aged.” 

— Ronen Shapira

Translations by Daffi Kudish.  Published by Keshev.

Cover: So Far, So Good

So Far, So Good

Poetry.

“The man falling from a eighty story building is asked how he’s doing as he passes the fortieth floor: ‘So Far, So Good.’ This is the response of this book to history, politics, ageing, and change. Many of her poems in her works present themselves as dots on a chart, drawing the changing picture of a life, but So Far, So Good registers even more than before the urgency, passion, and hunger that accompanies the drawing of this chart.” 

— Hillary Keren

Published by Sivan and Boulevard Books.

Cover: In My Skin

In My Skin

Poetry.

“This is a book of poetry about being Jewish, and living in Israel. “Karen Alkalay-Gut’s work is never less than a carnival of her (and our) multiple selves. She is funny, tragic, sensual, powerful, poignant, sharply intelligent, and above all, alive.” 

— Alicia Ostriker

Published by Sivan.

Cover: The Love of Clothes and Nakedness

The Love of Clothes and Nakedness

Poetry.

“This is a book of poems about shopping, dressing and undressing. How come nobody thought about it before? It’s all here, the love of clothes and the love of nakedness, clothes that remember, clothes wishing to forget, clothes looking forward and looking east. This is the journey around women’s clothes in 80 pages.” 

— Moshe Benarroch

Published by Sivan.

Cover: High Maintenance

High Maintenance

Poetry.

“We grow. We age. We look back to the times that were and forward to times yet to come. This collection of poetry is a dialogue between those paradoxes, giving life and energy to moments of quiet reflection. With her own personal journey into middle age, the poet takes us into a world where the process of aging can become an exciting discovery of its own.” 

— Neamh Press

Published by Neamh Press.

Cover: Survivre a son histoire

Survivre à son histoire

Poetry, translated into French by Sabine Huynh

Cover: Florentine Diary

Florentine Diary

Poetry.

Cover: Love and War

Love and War — 1992

Poetry.