Sea of Azov    

 ''The dark menace lurking in the best fairy tales is never far from the surface..."

Join us to help launch World Jewish Relief's first ever collection of short stories. Jewish and non-Jewish writers from Britain, Israel and North America have come together to support WJR and to tell their tales, trying to make fictional sense of the previous century and the century  just beginning to evolve. This book has been given the title of The Sea of Azov, after both the birthplace of Chekhov, that consummate master of the short story, and the site of one of WJR's campaigns to support distressed Jewish communities.

Celebrated writers, including Ali Smith, Nicole Krauss and Jon McGregor,offer tales of fear and betrayal, unrequited desire and revenge, grief and longing, love and fulfilment.

Readings by Tania Hershman, Karen Maitland, Michelene Wandor and Tamar Yellin will be followed by a discussion chaired by Anne Sebba

Tania Hershman is a former science journalist who lives in Jerusalem. Her short stories have been published both in print and on line and broadcasted on BBC’s Radio 4. Tania's first collection, The White Road and Other Stories came out last autumn and is published by Salt Publishing. She is Editor of The Short Review (www.theshortreview.com), a site dedicated to reviewing short story collections.

Michelene Wandor is a poet, playwright and fiction writer. Her recent poetry collections, Musica Transalpina and Music of the Prophets contain narrative poems about the Jews in England. She has written two books about creative writing: The Author is Not Dead, merely Somewhere Else and The Art of Writing Drama and holds a Royal Literary Fund fellowship.

Tamar Yellin's first novel, The Genizah at the House of Shepher, received the Ribalow Prize 2006 and the Rohr Prize 2007 and was short-listed for the Wingate Prize. Her collection, Kafka in Bronteland and other stories, was a finalist for the Edge Hill Prize and received the Reform Judaism Prize 2006. Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes appeared in September 2008.

Karen Maitland lives in Lincoln. She writes fiction and non-fiction, including co-writing a number of cross-cultural books. Her first novel, The White Room, was short-listed for The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. Her medieval thriller, Company of Liars, was published in 2008.

Anne Sebba worked as a foreign correspondent in Rome and New York. She has written eight books – Jennie Churchill: Winston's American Mother is her latest – as well as several introductions to re-published classics and short stories. She is a trustee of PEN – the Writers' Organisation – and YAD, dedicated to bringing Israelis and Arabs together through the arts.

In association with Five Leaves Publication

Do visit the World Jewish Relief website: www.wjr.org.uk