Welcome to Voices Israel
Who We Are:
Voices Israel is the natural home for Israeli poets writing in English, and for those abroad who support our goals and share our enthusiasm for poetry. From our initial launch by four founders in 1971, we have grown to a membership of around 150 poets in Israel and several other countries. We are a fully-accredited and approved organization registered since 1993 with the Israel Organizations Authority.
For Fuller Information:
- see our About Voices page;
- Come visit our Facebook page!
- download our flyer and email it to others who would like to hear about us.
- We also have a short flyer for notice boards. If there’s a place where English speakers gather – why not print it out and pin it up there?
Come join us!
We’re always happy to welcome both new and established (yes and would-be) poets into our family!
- To attend a local meeting to try us out – contact your local Coordinator. You’re welcome to ask to attend, as a guest, any of our local meetings, via Zoom or in-person, for two or three meetings prior to deciding whether to join.
- To become a member of Voices Israel – fill in our membership application form and send it in! Full details are on our Membership page. Our modest annual membership dues cover our costs and entitle you to a free copy of the Anthology and reduced fees for workshops.
Some of our local groups hold face-to-face meetings, while others meet via Zoom. For members with no convenient local group, we also have two Global Groups which include members from both Israel and abroad: see the Our Team page for contact details of their coordinators.
Chapbooks currently available can be ordered via PayPal: click the link below, it will ask you to log in to your PayPal account and then to fill in the amount to send Voices Israel with a note saying what the payment is for. Please also send an email to whoever is distributing them (our chapbook producer, Judy Koren: koren.judy@gmail.com).
The link: PayPal.me/VoicesIsrael.
What we’ve been doing of late
Below is the list of our activities for the last few months. To see the full list of what we’ve been doing, check out our Voices Israel’s Activities page
April to June 2026
We’ve set the date for the joint Reuben Rose Competition and Bar Sagi Prize awards event. It will be held on Zoom on Thursday, 30 April 2026 at 7:00 pm (Israel time).
On April 15th, Dina Yehuda, our past Chief Editor of the Anthology, will be interviewing Miriam Botzer of Szfat, via Zoom, on her life and creative journey, focusing on five or six of her poems.
The submission period for our Anthology has ended and during April the editorial board will be busy deciding which poems to include.
January to March 2026
Our Early Bird membership renewal period ran until March 31st. And we extended the deadline for submissions to our Voices Israel Anthology till the same date — see the Anthology section of this website.
Our Annual General Meeting proceeded as scheduled despite the war, on March 19th, and was attended by 27 people.
On March 5th, a few days after the war began, we held an impromptu Open Mic session, which was very well attended.
Our Zoom workshop on Light was so well attended that there wasn’t time to hear the poems written at it; so we held a poetry reading for them on January 13th.
The Reuben Rose Prize winners and Honorable Mention recipients have been announced. For details, see our 2025 Reuben Rose Competition page.
Our Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize competition submission period has now closed and the judges are considering the entries.
Our 2026 Anthology is open for submissions, till March 31st.
October to December 2025
Our Zoom workshop on Light, presented by Elana Dorfman, is on Tuesday December 9th at 7 pm Israel time. The registration form is on p.11 of our December newsletter.
We are now accepting submissions for the Bar Sagi competition for young poets in Israel. Please help us to publicise the competition to your children, grandchildren, and any teachers you may know! Full details are on our website: https://voicesisrael.com/bar-sagi-prize/.
The submission period for our annual Anthology opens on December 14th. As usual it’s open to anyone, anywhere: submit your three best poems! entry is free. More details are on our Submitting to the Anthology page.
The closing date for submissions to our prestigious Reuben Rose competition has passed and the judges are busy judging the poems.
We’ve sent printed copies of the chapbook resulting from our September workshop to everyone who ordered them. Anyone who wants a copy (or an additional copy), please contact Judy Koren, our chapbook producer.
July to September 2025
Our 2025 Anthology launch took place on September 14th as a hybrid event: in-person at the Karaoke Bar, Netanya, and via Zoom. For a description and photos see our 2025 Anthology Launch page.
On September 2nd we held a very successful in-person workshop, “Two American Poets”, in Haifa.
Baruch November, our 2025 Reuben Rose international judge, read poems and was interviewed about his life and poetry, by Susan Olsburgh, in a Voices Israel special Zoom presentation on Sunday August 17th. For more about Baruch November, see our August Newsletter.
The Reuben Rose Competition opened for submissions on July 15th. For details see our Submit to the Reuben Rose page.
What our members have been doing
Below is a list of our members’ latest poetic achievements, with links to their publications where available. To see the full list for the past six months, check out our Members’ Activities page.
March 2026: congratulations to:
Miriam Alper, who has had poems selected for publication in IAWE’s arc32 anthology.
Stanley H. Barkan who has been awarded a Diploma of Excellence by the International Writers Association.
Donna Bechar, whose poem “In the Clouds”, will be published in IAWE’s arc32 anthology.
Esther Cameron, whose work “Golda, Please” has been published on The Deronda Review’s website at: https://www.derondareview.org/golda.htm
Isaac Cohen for his many successes throughout the month.
Elana Dorfman, Ariel Watson and Ann Bar-Dov who have each had poems published on Writing on the Wall’s web page “Between the Sirens”: Sirens – by Elana Dorfman ; Dreams – by Ariel Watson ; PSS: Phantom Siren Syndrome – by Ann Bar-Dov .
Larry Lefkovitz, whose work “Vagabond” has been published on The Deronda Review’s website at https://www.derondareview.org/shoushani.htm
Ira Director whose poem “On April 14, 2024” has been published by OF THE BOOK at https://ofthebookpress.com/ira-director-on-apr-14-2024/
Klarina Priborkin and Julian Alper who have each had a mini-essay published in Writing on the Wall’s Balagan Underground online magazine.
Yiskah Rosenfeld who has had two poems about her father published in a new anthology: Beyond Words – Literary Magazine.
February 2026: congratulations to:
Miriam Jaskierowicz Arman who has been shortlisted for a prize in the international competition “The Country of the Poetry of Love” for her poem “LIGHT”.
Peter Brav whose poem “NICKELS” will appear in Nine Mile Magazine in April, and whose short story “Halfway Round The World” will appear in the April issue of Niv Magazine.
Isaac Cohen for his many successes throughout the month.
Ruth Schreiber who has had two poems, “Weary” and “My Lesson”, selected for arc 32, the Anthology of the Israel Association for Writers in English (IAWE).
Elana Wolff, whose poem Grand/mothers has been published by Public Reverie: A Journal of Literature, Culture, and Ideas.
January 2026: congratulations to:
Miriam Jaskierowicz Arman – whose poem “Hushed Moments” has been published on YouTube, and who has published her book of poems in Italian – available on Amazon.
Eli Ben-Joseph, whose poem “On rocking-horse wings” has been accepted by the IAWE for publication in Arc 32.
Isaac Cohen for his many successes throughout the month.
Amiel Schotz, whose poem writing “Shylock in Venice” has been published by ofthebook.
Voices Israel Group of Poets in English 