Welcome to the Gorgias Book Grant Program

In its efforts to promote education, Gorgias Press offers annually the Gorgias Book Grant. This program offers outstanding graduate students grants in the form of Gorgias Press publications. Grants consist of books in the value of $500.00 per grant. Each year, two  grants are distributed.

2011-2012 Grant Field: Any field within the scope of Gorgias Publications
Application Deadline: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Grant Date: April 2012

Eligibility

1. Candidate must be enrolled in a graduate program (Master's or Ph.D.) in an accredited university or an institution of learning in the field of the grant.
2. Candidate must have the equivalent of a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Application Process

Send by mail the following items to: Gorgias Press LLC, Book Grants Program, 954 River Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854. (All documents, apart from official transcripts, must be in English. Part 1 and 2 of the application can be emailed to Christine Kiraz, Christine@gorgiaspress.com)

1. A letter indicating your interests in your field and plans for the future.
2. A two-page description of your thesis, or a one-page description of your course work in the case of course-based programs.
3. Official transcripts of the previous 2 years of university education. If the institutions you come from do not give out transcripts, please contact us to make alternative arrangements to satisfy this requirement.
4. Two letters of recommendations from professors familiar with your work (one must be your current supervisor in the field of the grant).

2011 Gorgias Book Grant Winners: Alex Neroth van Vogelpoel and Jennifer Singletary

Alex Neroth van Vogelpoel is reading for the M.St. in Syriac Studies at the University of Oxford in England, where he is focusing on Syriac liturgy, hagiography, and early poetry.  He has previously earned degrees in Religious Studies and in International Relations from Stanford University and in Eastern Christian Theology from Saint Paul University in Canada.  His primary academic interests are Eastern Christian liturgy and social ethics, and his two long-term academic goals are deepening the body of knowledge regarding the East Syriac liturgical tradition and expanding the field of scholarship concerning the connection between liturgy and social justice.  "I'm honored to receive the Gorgias Press Book Grant, and I'm looking forward to being able to acquire some of the great titles that Gorgias Press has published.  I hope to be able to use the grant to deepen my knowledge of Syriac topics, and of Middle Eastern Christianity in general."

Jennifer Singletary is a Ph.D. candidate in the Program in Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean at Brown University. She also holds an MA in English from the Pennsylvania State University. Her dissertation, entitled, “Expanding the Pantheons of Ancient West Asia and Egypt: Compound Deities and Deified Objects, Qualities and Attributes from the Bronze Age to the Persian Period,” examines and compares the evidence for compound deities and deified objects, qualities and attributes cross-culturally, by analyzing offering lists, lists of deities’ names, ritual and cultic texts, onomastica and archaeological evidence from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and Elephantine. She is grateful to receive this book grant from Gorgias Press, and will use it to purchase titles on religion and Semitic languages. "I would like to thank Gorgias Press for their generous book grant, which will enable me to purchase several books that will facilitate both my current and future research."

2010 Gorgias Book Grant Winners: Ronny Vollandt and Luis Siddall 

Ronny Vollandt is currently at the University of Cambridge studying for a Ph.D. in Semitic Philology, having graduated 2007 with a MA in Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University Jerusalem. His doctoral research aims to investigate the traditions of Arabic Pentateuch translations that were employed in Arabic speaking Christian communities living in Muslim lands in medieval times. It is based on a comprehensive linguistic and exegetic analysis of selected portions of manuscripts containing Arabic versions of the Pentateuch. Special emphasis is therein based two early translation of the Peshitta. Upon receiving the award, Ronny said, "I plan to use the book, which I am honoured to have received, for the acquisition of Michael Sokoloff's Syriac Lexicon. I am confident that this publication of Gorgias Press will constitute an indispensable tool for my future research."

Luis Siddall: is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has degrees in Ancient History and Classical Hebrew (BA, Sydney) and Egyptology (MA, Macquarie Uni., Sydney). In addition to his doctoral studies at SOAS Luis is involved in a research team in Australia editing the cuneiform texts in the Museum of Ancient Cultures, Macquarie University and other projects. He has published on Neo-Assyrian history, biblical studies and the Amarna Letters. Luis will use the Gorgias Book Grant to acquire resources for his current and future research into Ancient Near Eastern history and languages.

2009 Gorgias Book Grant Recipients: Adam McCollum and Annette Neimejer 

Adam McCollum earned his B.A. in biblical studies from Union University, followed by an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he studied Semitic languages and Greek. For his dissertation he studied the Syriac version of the Hellenistic philosophical text known as the De Mundo. His translation of one of Jacob of Sarug's homilies is soon to appear from Gorgias Press. He is very grateful to receive the book grant and plans to use it for Syriac and Arabic texts and books on Middle Eastern history.

Annet Niemeijer studied Languages and Cultures of the Middle East at Groningen University from 2001-2006, where she also received her Master’s Degree, specializing in Hebrew, Syriac and other varieties of Aramaic, and Arabic. Fascinated by Jacob of Sarug’s elaborate literary-rhetorical style and encouraged by her mentor Dr. Gerrit Reinink, she decided to continue her studies on Jacob’s rhetorical style. Since September 2006 she holds a Junior Research Fellowship at Leiden University where she is currently studying the forceful rhetorical techniques of Jacob of Sarug under the supervision of Professor Holger Gzella. Annet said “I would like to use this book grant for broadening my knowledge in Syriac studies in general, and, more specifically, I wish to acquire some volumes of Gorgias Press’s bilingual series of Complete Homilies of Saint Jacob of Sarug”.

2008 Gorgias Book Grant Recipients: Shirly Natan Yulzary and Kyle Smith 

Shirly Natan Yulzary earned her BA and MA in Biblical Studies and History of Arts Studies at the Tel-Aviv University (Israel). She also serves as an assistant and instructor in the Department of Biblical Studies. Her main fields of interest are ancient texts and languages in general, and specifically the Ugaritic literature, its literary character and its literary legacy in the bible. She is married and has two children. She paints and reads for her pleasure. At the present she is writing her dissertation, which presents a close reading on the Ugaritic Narrative texts from a literary perspective. “I am honored to be one of the recipients of the The Gorgias Book Grant. This Book Grant will aid me to specialize in my studies, and will allow me to deepen my knowledge in my main fields of interest.

Kyle Smith: earned his BA (Philosophy) and MA (Early Christian Studies) at the University of Notre Dame and is presently pursuing his PhD in Early Christianity at Duke University under the direction of Professors Lucas Van Rompay and Elizabeth Clark. Using acts of East-Syrian martyrs, as well Greek, Armenian, and other Syriac sources, his dissertation will consider the construction of Christian identity in fifth-century Persia. He plans to put the Gorgias Book Grant toward acquisition of Bedjan’s Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum

2007 Book Grant Recipients 

Thomas Carlson earned a Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL, and is pursuing a Master of Studies in Syriac at Oxford University in order to become better acquainted with Syriac-speaking churches. He is currently preparing for doctoral studies in the history of the medieval Church of the East. Thomas is married, and he enjoys languages, Sudoku, and reading widely in ecclesiastical history. He was pleased to be awarded a Book Grant, saying, "Gorgias Press not only publishes some of the most important specialist works about the Syriac church history, but also branches out into other related disciplines. These books will help me broaden as well as deepen my studies."

Joseph Witztum: "I completed a BA and MA in Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and am presently a second year graduate student in the Near Eastern Studies Department at Princeton University. Among my interests are the Quran, Syraic Christianity and possible connections between the two. I wish to thank Gorgias Press for their generous grant." Joseph intends to write his disseration on the Quran, and is particularly interested in its Jewish and Christian sources. He plans to use the book grant to acquire Syriac texts which will allow him to conduct detailed comparisons between the Quran and its possible Syriac sources.

Previous Grant Recipients