Taking a tour of the Jewish literary magazine Drash

Lit life |

Here in the newspaper's literary department things can get misplaced, not unlike the lost volumes in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's novels. Books get stacked, then the stacks get stacked on top of more stacks. Not an optimal management technique, as I learned during the February 2001 earthquake, but one reason why I just recently cracked the covers of the local literary magazine Drash: Northwest Mosaic.

The backers of Drash just published their third annual issue, a lively compendium of essays, fiction, poetry and interviews. Not so different from any other literary journal, but this one is published by Temple Beth Am, a Reform Jewish congregation in Seattle's North End.

Why would a religious institution publish a literary magazine, with contributors both Jewish and non-Jewish? I asked Wendy Marcus, editor of Drash and music director of Temple Beth Am.

Journalist, author, mother of four kids, a bluegrass musician and founder of a klezmer band, Marcus is upfront about her reasons: When she submitted her own work to publishers, she found "incredible prejudice" on the part of East Coast editors toward Western authors.

A self-described collaborationist, she wanted a venue for both her own work and that of other authors. Its ecumenical nature stems from the sense that the Jewish people "can't make the world by themselves. It's a really, really important concept, especially in the Northwest where we're really not strong in numbers," she says.

The magazine has received grants and has at least one literary heavyweight on its editorial board (poet-novelist and University of Washington professor emeritus David Wagoner). This round it received 400-500 submissions; about 200 pieces made it in.

I took a tour of Drash and found some good stuff — evocative poems about birds (varied thrushes and chickens!) by Seattle poet Donald Kentop, and a delightful essay by Seattle author Stacy Lawson on her family history as seen through the lens of the Passover ritual of making gefilte fish. There's an affinity for the texture of everyday life — Marcus says she strives to fill a niche between scholarly journals of Jewish culture and more "edgy" literary journals. "We don't have deep pockets," says Marcus, but "it doesn't take money to be vibrant."

Drash is available at local bookstores and through the temple Web site (www.templebetham.org). Contributors will read at 11 a.m. July 12 at Ravenna's Tree of Life Books and at 4 p.m. July 25 at the Fremont branch of the Seattle Public Library.

Bookfest resurrection?

Remember the Northwest Bookfest? What a fun, funky book festival that was, especially the early years in the dank but oh-so-Northwest cavern of Pier 48. Bookfest's last gasp was in 2003. Now comes news that a local band of literati aims to resurrect the prospect of a local literary festival. The University Book Store is one participant — UBS readings coordinator Stesha Brandon says discussions are under way for a reconstituted festival, probably in fall 2010, possibly on the University of Washington campus.

Mary Ann Gwinn: 206-464-2357 or mgwinn@seattletimes.com. Mary Ann Gwinn appears

on Classical KING-FM's

Arts Channel at www.king.org/pages/

4216533.php