Oregon Jewish Voices 2026

Started in 1999 and organized by writer Willa Schneberg, this annual event features readings by prominent Oregon Jewish poets and writers. The writers in the 2026 program span a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction. Each author will share selections from their work. Ayelet Amittay is a poet and psychiatric nurse practitioner in Eugene, Oregon. Her first book, The Eating Knife, an extended Midrash on the Akedah, (the binding of Isaac) was published by Fernwood Press in 2025. Her chapbook, Therapy Room, won second place in the 2024 3-Day International Chapbook Contest. Ayelet’s poems appear in Critica Press, Gulf Coast, Michigan Quarterly Review, Pleiades, and others. Find her at www.ayeletpoet.com or on Instagram @ayeletpoet. Rachel Attias is a writer, educator, and editor based in Portland. Her writing has appeared in n+1, Porter House Review, X-R-A-Y, and more, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. She holds an MFA from Oregon State University, and teaches writing at Portland Community College and around the Pacific Northwest. Her writing is concerned with present and ancestral relationships, our changing natural world, memory, time, and everyday absurdity. Find Rachel at www.rachelattias.com. Daniel Isaiah Elder is a Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Writer. He is the Navigator at Lidia Yuknavitch’s alternative workshop organization, “Corporeal Writing,” where he also teaches. His essays and fiction have appeared in The Rumpus, Catapult, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Witch Craft Magazine, and many more. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his partner and their blended family of three children and one cat. You can find Daniel at www.daniel-elder.com. David Fuks is an author, actor, and playwright. He has often provided staged readings of his work during the Fertile Ground Theatre Festival. In March 2026, his Fable, “Alma de Luna,” was presented as a world premiere at HART Theatre in Hillsboro, Oregon. Fuks was a member of the improv and sketch comedy group “Waggie and Friends” for five years. He spent more than 40 years as a leader in the human services arena. Learn more at www.davidhfuks.com. Willa Schneberg is a poet, ceramic sculptor, psychotherapist, and curator. With photographer Jim Lommasson, she recently co-curated an exhibition at the Central Library Collins Gallery “What We Hold & Leave Behind.” Her honors include the Oregon Book Award in Poetry, poems on the Writer’s Almanac and Poetry Town, residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Kathmandu, and last Fall at Essere in Tuscany. She continues to curate “Oregon Jewish Voices,” now in its 27th season. Find Willa at www.willaschneberg.org.