Si Kere El Dio
Winner, general category. A conscripted husband miraculously reunites with his pregnant wife after fighting in the Balkan Wars in the Ottoman army — the great-grandfather and great-grandmother of author Nuia Menda Malki.
Mother, a Memoir
Runner up, general category. Gloria DeVida Kirchheimer offers a hilarious tribute to her feisty, theatrical mom, who came from Alexandria, Egypt, to New York in the 1930s.
Las Validjas
Winner, student category. Liza Cemel tells the story of her family's history, first across cities in Turkey, then across countries, bringing their validjas of memories and relationships with them.
Yogurt in Sephardi Life
Runner up, student category. Nesi Altaras recounts summers spent on the island of Buyukada, close to Istanbul, and the "traditional but extremely practical" feeling of being Sephardic in Turkey.
2024 Letter from the chair of Sephardic Studies
Update letter from Devin E.S. Naar, Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies and chair of the UW Sephardic Studies Program.
A Jewish, feminist, Ottoman gynecologist: A portrait of a physician from 19th-century Ottoman Istanbul
Graduate fellow Büsra Demirkol tells the story of the Romanian Jewish doctor who chose to live in Ottoman Istanbul and became a prominent member of its Jewish medical community — and an outspoken feminist.
Your favorite Hollywood actor probably has ties to the Yiddish theater, thanks to Stella Adler and her renowned acting method
Stella Adler, famous mid-century actress and one of the United States' foremost acting instructors, had deep ties to the Yiddish theater scene in New York City. Graduate fellow Amna Farooqi explains.
A descendant of a crypto sect of converts to Islam is challenging notions of Jewish identity
Reclaiming Jewishness can be difficult for people whose families converted long ago — especially for descendants of the "Dönme" in Turkey, writes graduate fellow Sasha Marie Ward.