*Events shown only through October 29
All events are open to the community with RSVP or tickets required and will take place virtually until further notice.
For more information about the Festival, to register, sponsor, or volunteer, contact Patty Shelanski at 757-452-3184 or Pshelanski@ujft.org or jewishva.org.
I Am Anne Frank & I Am Benjamin Franklin (Ordinary People Change the World Series) with author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos
Tuesday, October 13, 6:30 pm
For children ages 5–8
In conversation with Holly Firfer, CNN journalist
Tickets for this virtual event: $6 or $23 with either book (includes shipping) or $40 with both books (includes shipping). A limited number of signed books are available.
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium
In a time when heroes are in high demand, Brad Meltzer returns with his talented illustrator, Christopher Eliopoulos, to present two new books in his Ordinary People Change the World Series: I Am Anne Frank & I Am Benjamin Franklin. These books focus on the traits that made these ordinary heroes great—the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves.
Parents: have pencils and paper ready—Christopher Eliopoulos will teach the youngest viewers how to draw their ordinary heroes!
Red Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad’s Fake Diving Resort with author Raffi Berg in conversation with Daniel Limor, the Mossad commander who carried out the mission, found the famed resort and recruited the team involved
Thursday, October 15, 12 noon, FREE
Presented by Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and Community Partners’ 10th Annual Israel Today Series as part of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival
This is the true story that inspired the Netflix film, The Red Sea Diving Resort.
In the early 1980s on a remote part of the Sudanese coast, a new luxury holiday resort opened for business. Catering for divers, it attracted guests from around the world. Little did the holidaymakers know that the staff were undercover spies, working for the Mossad—the Israeli secret service.
Written in collaboration with operatives involved in the mission and endorsed as the definitive account, this is the complete, never-before-heard, gripping tale of a top-secret and often hazardous operation.
Raffi Berg is the Middle East editor of the BBC News website. Daniel Limor was the Mossad commander who led the covert mission to rescue thousands of Ethiopian Jewish refugees fleeing famine and war, coined Operation Brothers.
The Cobbler: How I Disrupted an Industry, Fell From Grace, and Came Back Stronger Than Ever with author Steve Madden
Thursday, October 15, 8:00 pm
In conversation with Holly Firfer, CNN journalist
Tickets for this virtual event: $11 or $36 with book (includes shipping). A limited number of signed books are available.
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium
Everyone knows Steve Madden’s name and his shoes, but few are familiar with his story. Over the past 30 years, Madden has taken his eponymous shoe company from the fledgling start-up he founded with a mere $1,100 to a global, multi-billion-dollar brand. But Madden’s mistakes, from his battle with addiction to the financial shortcuts that landed him in prison, are as important to his story as his most iconic shoes.
Steven Madden is an entrepreneur, an award-winning designer, and a business titan whose eponymous company is currently worth $3 billion. On the flip side, he is an ex-con, a recovering addict, and a devoted family man.
Ottolenghi Flavor: A Cookbookwith author Yotam Ottolenghi
Friday, October 16 at 12:30 pm
Tickets for this virtual event: $45 with book (includes shipping)
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium
The New York Times bestselling author of Plenty and Jerusalem teams up with Ottolenghi Test Kitchen’s Ixta Belfrage to reveal how flavor is created and amplified through 100+ innovative, super-delicious, plant-based recipes.
Yotam Ottolenghi is a seven-time New York Times best-selling cookbook author who contributes to the New York Times Food section and has a weekly column in The Guardian. Ixta Belfrage spent her youth dipping her fingers into mixing bowls in places as far-flung as Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. She formally began her culinary career at Ottolenghi’s Nopi restaurant before moving to the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen.
Anna Solomon, author of The Book of V.: A Novel
Monday, October 19, 12 noon, Free
As part of the Simon Family JCC’s Book Club Series
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
Lily is a mother and a daughter. And a second wife. And a writer, maybe? Vivian Barr seems to be the perfect political wife, dedicated to helping her charismatic and ambitious husband find success in Watergate-era Washington D.C. Esther is a fiercely independent young woman in ancient Persia, where she and her uncle’s tribe live a tenuous existence outside the palace walls.
These three characters’ riveting stories overlap and ultimately collide in this bold, kaleidoscopic novel intertwining the lives of three women across three centuries.
Anna Solomon is the author of three novels—The Book of V., Leaving Lucy Pear, and The Little Bride—and a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize.
Jonathan Safran Foer, author of We are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins Before Breakfast
Monday October 19, 8:00 pm
Tickets for this virtual event: $11 or $25 with book (includes shipping)
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium
The New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer re-evaluated his meat-based diet—and his conscience—in his powerful memoir and investigative report, Eating Animals. Now, he offers a mind-bending and potentially world-changing call to action on climate change.
Most books about the environmental crisis are densely academic, depressingly doom-laden, and crammed with impersonal statistics. We Are the Weather is different—accessible, immediate, and with a single clear solution that individual readers can put into practice straight away.
A significant proportion of global carbon emissions come from farming meat. Giving up meat is incredibly hard and nobody is perfect—but just cutting back is much easier and still has a huge positive effect on the environment. Just changing our dinners—cutting out meat for one meal per day—is enough to change the world.
Jennifer Steinhauer, author of The Firsts: The Inside Story of Women Reshaping Congress
Tuesday, October 20, 7:30 pm, Free
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater and The Weinstein JCC of Richmond
In the November 2018 midterms, the greatest number of women in history was elected to Congress. It was a group diverse in background, age, professional experience, and ideology, and all were swept into office on an enormous wave of grassroots support.
New York Times reporter, Jennifer Steinhauer, chronicles these women’s first year in Congress, follows their shift from trailblazing campaigns to the daily work of governance. Vivid and smart, The Firsts delivers fresh details, inside access, historical perspective, and expert analysis as these women—inspiring, controversial, talented, and rebellious—do something surprising: make Congress essential again.
The conversation will be moderated by Roberta Oster, communications director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
Judy Gold, author of Yes, I Can Say That: When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All In Trouble
Thursday, October 22, 8:00 pm
in conversation with Mara Davis, Atlanta Media personality
Tickets for this virtual event: $11 or $30 with book (includes shipping)
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium
“No one makes me laugh harder than Judy Gold. If I had to pick one comedian to write a book about free speech, it would be Judy.” —Amy Schumer
In Yes I Can Say That, comedy veteran Judy Gold argues that “no one has the right to tell comics what they can or cannot joke about…. Laughter is a unifier. It’s the best medicine….” For Gold, nothing is more insidious than enforcing silence and repressing jokes—the job of a comedian is to expose society’s demons, and confront them head-on, no prisoners allowed.
Judy Gold is an American standup comedian, actress, television writer, and producer. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and has starred in comedy specials on HBO, Comedy Central, and Logo. She is currently the host of the hit podcast Kill Me Now.
Nancy Grace, author of Don’t be a Victim: Fighting Back against America’s Crime Wave
Tuesday, October 27, 8:00 pm
Tickets for this virtual event: $11 or $36 with book (includes shipping). A number of signed copies are available.
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium Presents
Discover gripping true crime stories and the surprising tools to stay safe — from iconic legal commentator, TV journalist, and New York Times bestselling author Nancy Grace. Grace wasn’t always an influential legal authority. One moment changed her future forever: her fiancé was murdered just before their wedding. Driven to deliver justice for other crime victims, Grace became a felony prosecutor and for a decade, put the “bad guys” behind bars in Atlanta. Now, with a new and potentially life-saving book, she puts her crime-fighting expertise to work, to empower people to stay safe in the face of daily dangers.
Grace is an award-winning legal journalist, victims-rights advocate and New York Times bestselling author. She headlines Oxygen’s Injustice with Nancy Grace, hosts the daily Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on SIRIUS XM and appears regularly on ABC’s 20/20 and Nightline, as well as on Daily Mail TV. She is founder and publisher of CrimeOnline.com.
Mike Leven, author of Can’t Do It Yourself: How Commitment to Others Leads to Personal Prosperity
Thursday, October 29, 8:00 pm
Tickets for this virtual event: $11 or $36 with book (includes shipping). A limited number of signed copies are available.
Presented by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival in partnership with The National JCC Literary Consortium
Mike Leven, a storied hotel executive and respected Jewish leader, served at the helm of the Days Inn, Holiday Inn, Las Vegas Sands, and other noteworthy hospitality businesses and most recently as the CEO and chairman of the Georgia Aquarium.
In his new book, Can’t Do It Yourself, Leven takes the reader on a journey through his life, from growing up in a multi-generational household with Russian immigrant grandparents in a close-knit Jewish community in Boston, to an executive for some of the most noteworthy hotel chains. Each chapter ends with 11 different lessons to live by in business and life.