Keynote events with: author Mitch Albom launching his new book tour for The Little Liar; and author Lois Lowry speaking on her classic Number the Stars with performance of songs from the Number the Stars musical by Sean Hartley
—Featuring: Leah Koenig, Shaul Magid, Rabbi Benjamin Spratt, Rabbi Joshua Stanton, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Marcia Bricker Halperin, Kevin Baker, David Stromberg, Lisa Newman, Anne Berest, Leslie Camhi, Daniel Finkelstein, Jonathan Goldberg, Steve Sheinkin, Jen Kostman, Sarah Aroeste, Ann Koffsky, Nancy Churnin, and Ralph Shayne—
(New York, N.Y.)—The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust announced the full schedule of programs – both in-person and virtually – for the 2023 New York Jewish Book Festival, which will be held from Thursday, November 9 to Sunday, November 19 and feature events for adults, kids, and families. The full schedule can be found at mjhnyc.org/bookfestival.
The festival will feature talks, panels, and author signings and touch on themes of Jewish heritage, culture, and history, modern life and literature, the Holocaust and the 80th anniversary of the Danish Rescue, food and cookbooks, books for kids and families, and more spread out over 11 days of the festival. All books will be for sale in the Museum shop, along with Judaica and other special materials ahead of the winter holidays.
Sunday, November 12 events are designed for adults, while Sunday, November 19 will be geared toward families and children and include programs connected with the Museum’s newest exhibition – now open – about the Danish Rescue, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark. The Museum’s first exhibition for visitors ages 9 and up, the exhibition tells the remarkable story of the rescue of the Danish Jews during the Holocaust, immersing visitors in age-appropriate themes of community, citizenship, bravery, and resilience.
Among the highlights of the New York Jewish Book Festival are two keynote events:
- Award-winning author, screenwriter, philanthropist, journalist, and broadcaster Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie) will launch the book tour for his new book, The Little Liar, at the Museum on Sunday, November 12. Mitch Albom is an inspiration around the world. Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold more than forty million copies in forty-eight languages worldwide. He has written eight number-one New York Timesbestsellers, including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time, which topped the list for four straight years and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022. He also has written award-winning TV films, stage plays, screenplays, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and a musical. He appeared for more than 20 years on ESPN and was a fixture on The Sports Reporters. His much-anticipated new novel, set during the Holocaust, is coming this fall.
- Author Lois Lowry, who will speak about her book, Number the Stars, and songwriterSean Hartley, from Kaufman Music Center, will present songs from his original musical based on Number the Stars. Lois Lowry is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including The New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and the popular Anastasia Krupnik She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.
Other highlights of the New York Jewish Book Festival
Sunday, November 12
- Portico with Leah Koenig – A leading authority on Jewish food, Leah Koenig celebratesla cucina Ebraica Romana within the pages of her new cookbook, Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen, which features over 100 deeply flavorful recipes and beautiful photographs of Rome’s Jewish community, the oldest in Europe. Koenig will showcase the recipes in Portico and discuss the book, its making, and what she learned with and from Rome’s Jewish community. A signing will follow, with books available for purchase.
- The Necessity of Exile with Shaul Magid – Jewish identity today has been shaped by prior generations’ answers to the questions: What is exile? What is diaspora? What is Zionism? In each generation, we see that the future of Jewish life depends on how we respond in our own time. In The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance, celebrated rabbi and scholar Shaul Magid offers an essential contribution to this intergenerational process, inviting us to rethink our current moment using religious and political resources from the Jewish tradition. Shaul Magidis Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, Kogod Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard University, and Rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogue.
- Fierce Love and Awakenings – Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister and Public Theologian at Middle Church, Rabbi Joshua Stanton, Rabbi of East End Temple and Senior Fellow at CLAL, and Rabbi Benjamin Spratt, Senior Rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, will explore questions about faith, spirituality, and the strength and resilience of religious organizations in today’s world. Rabbis Spratt and Stanton are co-authors of Awakenings: American Jewish Transformations in Identity, Leadership, and Belonging. Rev. Dr. Jacqui is the author of Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World.
- Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria – Photographer Marcia Bricker Halperin and novelist Kevin Baker will discuss how Halperin’s black-and-white photographs of Dubrow’s Cafeteria, a restaurant-social club for a generation of New Yorkers on Kings Highway in Brooklyn, are a revealing return to New York City’s legendary cafeteria culture. Marcia Bricker Halperin, a lifelong Brooklynite, has been photographing the character and landscape of New York City since the 1970s. Kibbitz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafeteria, her first book, was published this year. Kevin Baker is a novelist, historian, journalist, screenwriter, and playwright who most recently, wrote the story for the Ken Burns documentary, The U.S. and the Holocaust. The author or co-author of twelve books, his new work, The New York Game: Baseball and the Making of a New City, will be published by Knopf next March.
- The Routledge History of Antisemitism – recent events show that antisemitism is not just a matter of historical interest or of concern only to Jews; it has become a major issue confronting and challenging our world. As the concern over antisemitism has grown, so too have debates over how to understand and combat it. The Routledge History of Antisemitismexplores its history and manifestations, ranging from its origins to the internet, through the lenses of time, geography, and culture. Volume editors Mark Weitzman and Robert Williams, along with Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, one of the authors featured in The Routledge History of Antisemitism, will be in conversation with Laura Adkins, Opinion Editor at The Forward about the new book.
Monday, November 13
- Isaac Bashevis Singer Writings on Yiddish and Yiddiskayt: The War Years 1939-1945 – David Stromberg, editor of the Isaac Bashevis Singer Literary Trust, will talk with Lisa Newman, Yiddish Book Center’s Director of Publishing and Public Programs, about Isaac Bashevis Singer Writings on Yiddish and Yiddiskayt: The War Years 1939-1945 by the late Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer on what would have been his 120th The collection, the first in a three-volume series, features twenty-five curated essays (selected from over 150) written from just before the start of World War II through to its immediate aftermath.
Tuesday, November 14
- The Postcard – Winner of the American Choix Goncourt Prize, the Prix Renaudot des lycéens, and the ELLE Readers Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is among the most acclaimed and beloved French novels of recent years. Luminous and gripping to the very last page, it is an enthralling investigation into family secrets, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life. Anne Berest talks with Leslie Camhi, an essayist, cultural journalist, and translator, who covered The Postcard for The New Yorker The Postcard will be available for purchase at shop.mjhnyc.org.
Wednesday, November 15
- Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family – An epic and uplifting World War II family history of resistance that spans Europe, in Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family, beloved British journalist Daniel Finkelstein tells the extraordinary story of the years before his mother and father met —years of war and trials they barely survived. Daniel Finkelstein talks with Jonathan Goldberg, a leading trial advocate and defender in the United Kingdom.
Sunday, November 19, featuring family-friendly events.
- Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe – Three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin’s Impossible Escape tells the true story of two Jewish teenagers—Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba and Alfred Wetzler—racing against time during the Holocaust. One is hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape. Sheinkin will discuss the story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives. A signing will follow, with books available for purchase. Suitable for youth age 12 and older.
- Interactive Reading of Ella KVELLephant and the Search for Bubbe’s Yiddish Treasure – Author and illustrator Jen Kostman will lead an interactive reading program – for children age 4 and up – about a colorful beach-day adventure as Ella searches for her lost treasure.
- Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II — Author Ralph Shayne talks about Hour of Need, his graphic novel about how the people of an occupied nation risked their lives to evacuate their Jewish countrymen to Sweden in small boats, a tribute to the heroes who worked with Denmark’s Jews to ensure the escape of over seven thousand people, and to the concrete and mythical ways by which humanity triumphs in the darkest hours. This program – for youth age 8 and older – is a part of the Museum’s series of programming around this fall’s new exhibition Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, the Museum’s first geared toward visitors 9 years old and up about the incredible story of the Danish Rescue.
- Jewish Board Books – Small, but mighty, board books are usually written for toddlers with less than 100 words, and are a valuable opportunity to provide windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors that nourish children at that all important time in their lives when they are learning words, concepts, pride, inclusion, empathy, and a sense of community. In this interactive workshop and reading, Jewish board writers Sarah Aroeste, Ann Koffsky, and Nancy Churnin will share the techniques of their craft, reflecting Sephardi, Ashkenazi, and a broad range of Jewish perspectives, including Mazal Bueno!, Sheep Says Shalom, and Counting on Shabbat.
This year’s New York Jewish Book Festival partners are: Yiddish Book Center, White Goat Press, Moment Magazine, Tablet Magazine, Association of Jewish Libraries, Ayin Press, Kaufman Music Center, Kalaniot Books, USC Shoah Foundation, and Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.
The second annual New York Jewish Book Festival will once again be free to the public. The festival is held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, located at 36 Battery Place, New York, NY, 10280, and virtually.
More information – including a link to sign up to receive updates – can be found at nyjewishbookfestival.org. Please contact nyjewishbookfestival@mjhnyc.org with any questions about the festival or partnerships and sponsorships.
While visiting, attendees can nosh at the acclaimed LOX Café, visit Andy Goldsworthy’s Garden of Stones, and visit the museum’s inspiring and moving exhibitions. The Museum’s main exhibition, The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do and newly-opened exhibition Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark will be on view and open to book festival registrants.
Visitors also are encouraged to download Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and cultural app created by Bloomberg Philanthropies. The app, available for download from Google Play or the App Store, makes the Museum accessible for both onsite and remote visitors through photo, audio, and video features that offer access and insights into the Museum’s collection, exhibitions, and educational resources. Onsite, the app turns a user’s mobile phone into a touchless experience and centralized source of information. Offsite, it allows users to explore institutions from anywhere.