Illustrator and Visual Storyteller Fellowship 2023-2024
In order to support talented artists and creators in developing books with Jewish content, PJ Library is excited to introduce the first international Illustrator and Visual Storyteller Fellowship. The fellowship will offer artists and illustrators the opportunity to create, connect, and explore together through a half-year joint program with the Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) in Vermont. This hybrid virtual and in-person model will bring together a cohort of 13 artists for five days at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont (June 2024) and five days in Jerusalem (November 2024) . The remainder of the year will be centered around online sessions that deepen and extend the in-person experience while illustrators work individually and collectively on projects of their choice and inspiration.
The fellowship will see artists and illustrators develop their craft through the creative exploration of stories for children and families, inspired by Jewish history, culture, folklore, content, and contemporary narratives. Read about the fellows below!
Ann D. Koffsky
Ann is the author and illustrator of more than 40 books, including Under-the-Sea Seder, the Kayla and Kugel series, Sheep Says Shalom, and Shabbat Shalom, Hey! Several of her books have been PJ Library selections, and her book Noah’s Swim-a-Thon received a Sydney Taylor Book Award notable designation from the Association of Jewish Libraries. Ann has also created more than 100 greeting cards and products for clients such as Hallmark, Costco, and Rite Lite. Previously, she was an editor and art director at Behrman House and an adjunct professor of art at Yeshiva University. Ann lives in West Hempstead, New York, with her family.
Aya Gordon-Noy
Aya has illustrated some of the best-known children’s picture books written in Hebrew by Israeli authors such as Naomi Shemer, Miriam Yalan-Stekelis, and Ain Hilel. Many of these books have been translated into other languages. Aya works with mixed-media techniques that combine drawing, 3D objects, and collage materials. Besides her main work as an illustrator, Aya also illustrates for magazines, commercial companies, museums, and more. Her illustrations have received recognition from the Israel Museum Ben-Yitzhak Award, the Yossi Stern prize, and 3x3 magazine. Aya works and lives in Ein Hod, a small artist village in the northern part of Israel, with her husband, four boys, two adorable dogs, and one annoying cat.
Carmel Ben-Ami
Born in 1987 in the Netherlands and raised in Israel, Carmel graduated with honors in 2014 from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem, specializing in animation. Her graduation film Luma (codirected with Sohini Tal) won several prizes and was screened in festivals around the world. After graduating, Carmel relocated to Amsterdam and started working in the animation industry as a freelance animator and illustrator. Carmel illustrated several children’s books, such as Ed Doesn't Want to Get Out of Bed! by Ruth Oren and, most recently, Nuri’s Stone Age by Galit Raved. Carmel loves exploring different methods of storytelling, including creating and expressing movement and emotion in animation as well as diving into the richness of creating worlds and atmosphere through color and composition in still frames. For her, the greatest joy is to bring the beauty of movement and expression of motion into her illustrations.
Eitan Eloa
Eitan is an illustrator and graphic designer. He graduated from the department of visual communication at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem, where he now teaches several illustration classes. He illustrates children's books, graphic novels, and editorial illustrations and also specializes in illustrated branding. Eitan has received the Israel Museum Ben-Yitzhak Award for the Illustration of a Children's Book, a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators, the Israeli Design Award, and more. He has exhibited a variety of works in Israel and abroad, including the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2017); Design Museum Holon (2019); Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv (2016); Tel Aviv Illustration Week (2015); and more.
Jake Goldwasser
Jake is a poet, translator, and cartoonist. His writing has appeared in New England Review, the Baffler, Public Books, and elsewhere, and his cartoons and comics regularly appear in the New Yorker. His translation of Judith Herzberg's Landscape was published by Circumference Books in 2022. Jake holds a degree from Columbia University and is pursuing his MFA in poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he also teaches literature and creative writing. He is a recipient of fellowships, grants, and residencies from the Fulbright program, Asylum Arts, Bethany Arts Community, Manchester City of Literature, the New Jewish Culture Fellowship, and the Stanley Award for International Research for his work exploring how wisdom traditions relate to technology, climate change, and globalization.
Naama Benziman
Naama is the illustrator of 10 and the author of three books for children. She also writes a feminist personal column and has exhibited in various international exhibitions. Naama studied visual literacy (summa cum laude) and lectures on illustration. Born in Jerusalem and now living in Tel Aviv, she practices Iyengar yoga once a week and is married with two children.
Noa Mishkin
Noa is an illustrator and comic artist, a graduate of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem in the visual communication department. In her work she explores the intersections of Jewish and feminist identity, the natural world, and the built environment in a variety of traditional media.
Raaya Karas
Raaya is an illustrator and designer who lives and works in Israel. She currently teaches design at the Holon Institute of Technology and has worked with prominent Israeli writers and publishers. Her artwork has been exhibited in various festivals and exhibitions around the world. She graduated with honors from the department of visual communication at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Jerusalem with a degree in graphic design. Raaya won the Yossi Stern Award for outstanding achievements in illustration as well as the graduate’s scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation for distinction in arts.
Roni Fahima
Born in 1978, Roni is a comic artist, illustrator, textile artist, and animation creator. She is a lecturer in the department of visual communication at Shenkar College and is one of the founders of the award-winning independent comic and illustration magazine Scroll. Illustrator of many youth and children's books, her illustrations for Grandma and the Wonder Threads by Uri Orlev and Yakinton: A Story of Friendship and Poetry by Shoham Smith won a commendation in the Ben Zvi Prize for Children's Book Illustration, Israel Museum. Roni’s debut graphic novel, Mr. Ewing by Uri Atamit (2016) was included in the list of 10 recommended books of Haaretz that year. Roni has created stage animations for the Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak dance troupe, The Sly Little Fox (2013), Bergen National Opera, and Dust (2014). Her joint exhibition with illustrator Batia Colton, The Monkey Learned to Weave, will open in June 2023 at the Herzliya Museum.
Rotem Teplow
Rotem is an illustrator living and working in Israel. She lives in the village of Kedem Arava with her husband Eli and her two sons Shaked and Naveh. Since she graduated from Shenkar College in 2016, Rotem has been illustrating for newspapers, magazines, and publishers worldwide.
Sarah Lynne Reul
Sarah Lynne is an author, illustrator, and award-winning animator who likes science, tiny things, and drawing on photos. Originally from Brooklyn, she now lives near Boston with her family. After some years in science-museum education, she was lured back to school by the magic of making drawings come to life. Armed with an MFA in 2D animation, Sarah Lynne now strives to pack the energy of animation into each illustration. Her books include The Breaking News, Allie All Along, Nerp!, and Bubbie & Rivka’s Best-Ever Challah (So Far!).
Sean Rubin
Sean was born in Brooklyn, New York. He's the author-illustrator of the Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel Bolivar and the picture book This Very Tree. His next picture book, The Iguanodon’s Horn, will be published in autumn 2023. Sean is also an illustrator for the New York Times best-selling Redwall series. He illustrated The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel, which won the Sydney Taylor Book Award for picture books in 2022, largely for its depictions of brisket. Since his first trip to Israel with PJ Library in 2018, Sean has become active in the Jewish publishing community, where he often speaks about Jewish identity in multifaith contexts. He and his wife Lucy met at Princeton University. They have two boys, one Australian shepherd, and live on a farm outside Charlottesville, Virginia.
Selina Alko
It is no wonder that award-winning writer-illustrator Selina now spends her days melding words and mixed-media art to convey stories of hope and inspiration as well as an alternative viewpoint. Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a Turkish Jewish father who spoke seven languages and taught painting and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother who worked in the family’s century-old metal-recycling business, she was surrounded by the melody of words and stories from different places. Selina’s books include The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage; Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama; and I Is for Immigrants, which was selected as a 2022 Best Children’s Book of the Year by Bank Street College of Education and was awarded a silver medal in the book category from the Society of Illustrators. Selina lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her multiracial family.