35th Annual JCC Jewish Book Festival Announced

Set aside the second week of February for an extended literary treat! The Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival (Feb. 8-13,2020) will warm up your winter nights with an exciting roster of writers from across Canada, the US, Israel and South Africa. The six days of the Festival are packed with inspiring and entertaining literary events including unique meet-the-author opportunities, readings and panel discussions, the annual book club event, children's and youth authors, wellness subjects and two onsite bookstores new and used, open throughout the week. There is something of interest for every age group and literary taste.

Featured 2020 Festival authors will include:

Opening Night Gala with GARY SHTEYNGART, the incredibly funny and incredibly smart master of satire, in conversation with Lisa Christiansen about his biting and timely novel Lake Success; an interdisciplinary Closing Night with Jamie Bernstein, daughter of revered composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein. Her memoir Famous Father Girl invites us into the family's private world where, with the help of guest musicians, she will offer us a rare look at her father around the centennial of his birth; winner of the 2019 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Michael David LUKAS will talk about his fascinating historical fiction novel The Last Watchman of Cairo followed by the documentary From Cairo to the Cloud by local filmmaker MICHELLE PAYMAR; local bestselling author DANIEL KALLA headlining our annual Book Clubs event with his latest novel We All Fall Down, a historical/medical thriller; BC ecologist and professor ALEJANDRO FRID arguing that merging science and Indigenous knowledge may be the only way to avert the imminent climate and biodiversity crises, in his book Changing Tides: An Ecologist's Journey to Make Peace with the Anthropocene; local historian HEIDI TWOREK with her brilliant new book News from Germany: The Competition to Control World Communications 1900-1945; eminent South African photographer and writer TERRY KURGAN, winner of the 2019 Sunday Times Alan Paton Non-fiction Award presenting her book Everyone is Present: Essays on Photography, Family and Memory, in our first partnership with the Polygon Gallery; Israeli/Canadian writer GILA GREEN, author of novel in stories White Zion and YA novel No Entry; local parenting expert ANNE ANDREW with her book What They Don't Teach in Prenatal Class; ALEXANDRA FRANKEL bringing forth a whimsical children's book about diversity and acceptance From Neigh to Zebra; former Vancouverite ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY with her vibrant, compelling memoir Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me and many other authors, events and genres.

"The Jewish Book Festival strives to spark meaningful and captivating conversations about the written word in every shape and form" says Festival Director, Dana Camil Hewitt. "While the nucleus of our festival is Jewish-themed, our speakers, events and audience all defy narrow categorization: we provide an interactive forum and showcase for recent publications that revel in the lively and pivotal ideas stemming from the modern world. We are attuned to timely and universal themes, we thrive on interdisciplinary, inviting music and photography into our events. We ponder on aspects of feminism, embark on reconciliation by learning from Indigenous cultures about nature and climate and scrutinize our own communities trying to find the unique, the exceptional, the passionate. And we have great fun in the process, there will always be humour and food amongst our offerings!"

Mark your calendars now! Regular updates can be found on the website at www.jewishbookfestival.ca The JCC Jewish Book Festival program guide will be available at select locations throughout the Lower Mainland after December 27, 2019. Most events take place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (950 West 41st Ave @ Oak), as well as in outreach locations in the Lower Mainland.

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