CHICAGO – The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) has announced its selection for the 2026 Sophie Brody Medal, an annual honor bestowed by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA as part of the Book & Media Awards Media Blitz Day.
This year’s winner is Allison Epstein, author of Fagin the Thief: A Novel, published by Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House. The Dickensian world comes alive in this vivid reimagining of the life of Fagin, the infamous Jewish pickpocket from Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Epstein humanizes but does not redeem Fagin, as she explores questions of identity and survival on the margins of the antisemitic London of the 1800s.
Honorable mentions include: Angela Buchdahl, author of Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging, published by Pamela Dorman Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House within the Viking Penguin division; Eli Sharabi, author of Hostage, translated by Eylon Levy, published by Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; Ruth Franklin, author of The Many Lives of Anne Frank, published by Yale University Press; and, Maria van Lieshout, author of Song of a Blackbird, published by First Second Books/Macmillan Publishers.
Further noteworthy titles include:
The Anatomy of Exile: A Novel by Zeeva Bukai, published by Delphinium Books.
Antisemitism: An American Tradition by Pamela S. Nadell, published by W.W. Norton & Company.
Children of the Book: A Memoir of Reading Together by Ilana Kurshan, published by St. Martin’s Press.
Cry for Me, Argentina: My Life as a Failed Child Star by Tamara Yajia, published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
Dirtbag Queen: A Memoir of My Mother by Andy Corren, published by Grand Central Publishing.
Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer by David Denby, published by Henry Holt & Company.
A Fool’s Kabbalah: A Novel by Steve Stern, published by Melville House.
Four Red Sweaters: Powerful True Stories of Women and the Holocaust by Lucy Adlington, published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Gursha: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond by Beejhy Barhany with Elisa Ung, published by Knopf, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty by Bonny Reichert, published by Ballantine Books, an imprint within the Random House Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
I Made It out of Clay by Beth Kander, published by MIRA Books, an imprint of Harlequin Trade Publishing, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.
Louis B. Mayer & Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation by Kenneth Turan, published by Yale University Press.
My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-Up Comedy, A Skokie Elegy by Edward Hirsch, published by Knopf, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
A Prayer of Six Wings by Owen Lewis, published by Dos Madres Press.
Remember Us to Life: A Graphic Memoir by Joanna Rubin Dranger, translated by Maura Tavares, published by Ten Speed Graphic, an imprint under Ten Speed Press, which is part of the Crown Publishing Group at Penguin Random House.
The Serpent Bearer: A Novel by Jane Rosenthal, published by She Writes Press.
Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History by Olivia Campbell, published by Park Row Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade, translated by Rose Waldman, published by Knopf, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
The Umbrella Maker’s Son: A Novel of World War II by Tod Lending, published by Harper Paperbacks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Sophie Brody Medal is given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish literature. Works for adults published in the United States in the preceding year are eligible for the award.
This year’s winner, honor books and further noteworthy titles were selected by the Sophie Brody Medal committee: David L. Suárez, chair, Loudoun County Public Library; Julie Benolken, Inver Hills Community College; Barbara Bibel, Oakland Public Library, retired; Paula Breger, Association of Jewish Libraries; Ellen F. Covino, Sayville Public Library; Nicole Edwards, Federal Government; Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa College Library, retired; Mary Parker, Minitex, University of Minnesota, retired; Adela Peskorz, Metropolitan State University, professor emerita.
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more at www.rusaupdate.org.