Jewish Book Festival 2020

42ND ANNUAL

ST. LOUIS JEWISH

BOOK FESTIVAL

author events throughout the year November 1 – 8, 2020| Plus| bookend Virtual Home Edition

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 – JUNE 30, 2017

FEATURING BARRY SONNENFELD AND 15 MORE PREMIER AUTHORS

TICKETS on sale now! stljewishbookfestival.org Don’t forget the Jewish Film Festival – flip your brochure over!

A program of the Jewish Community Center

VIRTUAL HOME EDITION Experience all author events, live, from the comfort of your home! Meet and interact with your favorite authors from your favorite room - no need to dress up or find a parking space! One you log in to the J’s new online system, you will have immediate access via a secure Zoom connection.

Closed captioning available for all programs.

GREETINGS! During this challenging year, each of us has had to navigate unexpected obstacles just to maintain everyday life. While social distancing, books continue to bring us together with compelling stories and characters to stimulate our imagination and open new worlds.

While this year’s Festival will look different from previous ones, the tradition continues as acclaimed authors enthusiastically wish to be part of one of the largest and most successful Festivals in the country. This is only possible because of the amazing team of dedicated volunteers and staff who work year-round to produce the event, particularly during a pandemic.

In this year of unanticipated hardship and struggles, we hope you will join us for the 42nd annual Jewish Book Festival, a time to come together and celebrate great reads!

Barb Williams and Jim Bogart Co-chairs

FALL VIRTUAL PASS | $95 Passes allow access to all Fall 2020 programs for one designated email per household, including the Fall Bookend Event. For a household of two people sharing a viewing screen, the pass is close to a $500 value. To purchase a Fall Virtual Pass or individual event tickets, and to learn how to access programs, visit stljewishbookfestival.org. For additional information, call 314.442.3299.

RAFFLE TICKETS Winners will be drawn several times throughout the Festival. Prizes include autographed author books, gift certificates to popular St. Louis restaurants, baseball memorabilia, jewelry and more. Tickets are $5 each or five tickets for $20 and are available at checkout when purchasing tickets on the Festival website.

BOOK SALES The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival thanks Main Street Books for providing books by our presenting authors. The Festival receives a percentage of sales for every book sold. Please support the Festival and Main Street Books by purchasing your books through the Festival website.

JOAN LUNDEN FALL BOOKEND EVENT Sunday, October 25 at 7:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Kay Quinn, Anchor, KSDK News In her most candid and revealing book yet, Why Did I Come into This Room: A Candid Conversation about Aging, acclaimed broadcast journalist and Baby Boomer, Joan Lunden delves into the various phases of aging that leave many feeling uncomfortable, confused, and on edge. In her hilarious book, Lunden takes the dull and depressing out of aging, replacing it with wit and humor. After all, laughing is better than crying—unless it makes you pee! Whether you’re in your 40s, 50s, 60s, or more, this book is full of helpful information to embrace—or at least prepare for—the inevitable.

Sponsored by St. Louis NORC and Eileen Schneider Edelman 2 | St. Louis Jewish Book Festival 2020

Sunday, November 1 Keynote Speaker

BARRY SONNENFELD Barry Sonnenfeld’s philosophy is, “Regret the Past. Fear the Present.

Dread the Future.” Told in his unmistakable voice, Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother is a laugh-out-loud memoir. Constantly threatened with suicide by his over-protective mother, disillusioned by the father he worshiped, and abused by a demonic relative, Sonnenfeld somehow went on to become one of Hollywood’s most successful producers and directors. One of his most embarrassing moments occurred when he was a teenager attending his first rock concert. His mom had the PA announcer say, “Barry Sonnenfeld, call your mother.”

Film and television director Barry Sonnenfeld’s outrageous and hilarious memoir, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker traces his idiosyncratic upbringing in New York City, his breaking into film as a cinematographer with the Coen brothers, and his unexpected career as the director behind such huge film franchises as The Addams Family and Men in Black, as well as Get Shorty, Pushing Daisies, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Before making Men in Black, he considered doing a live-action film version of The Jetsons.

In addition to being an accomplished director in his own right, Mr. Sonnenfeld has worked as a cinematographer with many other well-known directors on their American classics, including with the Coen brothers on Blood Simple, Raising Arizona and Miller’s Crossing; with Danny DeVito on Throw Mama From the Train; with Penny Marshall on Big; and with Rob Reiner on When Harry Met Sally and Misery.

7:00pm | $30 Interviewed by Alan Zweibel

ALAN ZWEIBEL Interviewer Alan Zweibel is an original Saturday Night Live writer whom the New York Times says has “earned a place in the pantheon of American pop culture.” Alan has won multiple Emmys and awards for his work in television which includes It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (which he co-created & produced), Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Late Show with David Letterman. His new memoir is called Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier.

314.442.3299 • stljewishbookfestival.org

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Monday, November 2

JOHANNA SILVER 2:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Larry Siffelman, Owner, Tastebuds Dispensary (opening in St. Claire, MO in January, 2021) Buried deep in Talmudic literature are instructions for how to grow cannabis. From the former garden editor of Sunset magazine, Johanna Silver, Growing Weed in the Garden brings cannabis out of the dark, into the sunlight. This groundbreaking, comprehensive guide to incorporating weed into your garden leads you from seed or plant selection to harvest. Filled with gorgeous photographs of beautiful gardens, as well as step-by-step photography that shows how to dry, cure, and store cannabis, make tinctures and oils, and roll the perfect joint, this book provides all the information you need to grow and enjoy cannabis. For both the stoned and sober, the new and seasoned gardener, Growing Weed in the Garden is the definitive guide to doing just that.

Sponsored by Kuhn Foundation

JUDY GOLD 7:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Jo Firestone, Comedian & Writer for The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon From award-winning comedian Judy Gold, Yes, I Can Say That explores the current assault on comedy, which is undermining free speech and is seen as a fundamental attack against the integrity of the art. Comedians have long been under fire for using provocative, often taboo subjects to challenge mores and get a laugh. But in the age of social media, comedians are at greater risk of being silenced, enduring threats, shaming, and damaged careers because of angry, censorious electronic mobs.

Gold writes, that as “truth tellers,” a comic’s observations are deliberately delivered to entertain, provoke, and lead to an exchange of ideas. 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. Sponsored by Robin & David Chervitz

No authors on Tuesday, November 3. GO VOTE! 4 | St. Louis Jewish Book Festival 2020

Wednesday, November 4

ALEX GEORGE 2:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Momta Chaudhry, author of Haunting Paris In glittering 1927 Paris, Josephine Baker dances with Ernest Hemingway, Maurice Ravel plays a lonely piano, and Gertrude Stein hosts her legendary salons. Yet alongside these creative geniuses, a quartet of ordinary men and women are forging their own extraordinary stories. The Paris Hours shows us that even the forgotten residents of Paris are as dazzling as the glorious city they inhabit. Alex George is a writer, a bookseller, a director of a literary festival, and a lawyer. He was born in England, received a law degree from Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in London and Paris. He now lives in Columbia, Missouri, where he and his wife own an independent bookstore, Skylark Bookshop. His two previous novels, A Good American (a national and international best seller) and Setting Free The Kites received a variety of awards and recognition.

Sponsored by Margie Horowitz, Susan Nagarkatti and The Silk Foundation

SPORTS NIGHT WITH

JON PESSAH AND BEN COHEN 7:00pm | $20 Moderated by Benjamin Hochman, Sports Columnist, St. Louis Post-Dispatch JON PESSAH

BEN COHEN Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask is the first biography to cover the entire arc of Yogi Berra’s life, from his hardscrabble Depression-era childhood in St. Louis, through his reign as a Hall of Famer and Greatest Living Yankee, and up to his death at age 90 in 2015—just before Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Pessah pushes past existing accounts of Berra to create a poignant and revealing portrait, to take readers inside the triumphs and disappointments of a professional ballplayer. Jon Pessah is a founding editor of ESPN Magazine. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for editing and writing an examination into the role of racism in Major League Baseball. A 45-year veteran of sports and business journalism in newspapers and magazines, Pessah was Assistant Managing Editor/Sports at Newsday and Sports Editor at the Hartford Courant.

How can you maximize success—and limit failure? Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen brilliantly investigates the mystery and science of streaks in The Hot Hand. For decades, statisticians, social scientists, psychologists, and economists (among them Nobel Prize winners) have spent massive amounts of precious time thinking about whether streaks actually exist.

After all, a substantial number of decisions that we make in our everyday lives are quietly rooted in this one question: If something happened before, will it happen again? Is there such a thing as being in the zone? Can someone have a “hot hand”? Or is it simply a case of seeing patterns in randomness? Or, if streaks are possible, where can they be found? In The Hot Hand, Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen offers an unfailingly entertaining and provocative investigation into these questions.

Sponsored by Gail & David Berwald, Marie & Stuart Block, Gail Glaser, Howard Hearsh, Aurelia Konrad Charitable Foundation, Judi Scissors & Sam Broh and Stacy & Greg Siwak 314.442.3299 • stljewishbookfestival.org

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Thursday, November 5

JILL WINE-BANKS 2:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Susan E. Block, Attorney, Paule, Camazine and Blumenthal It was a time, much like today, when Americans feared for the future of their democracy and women stood up for equal treatment. At the crossroads of the Watergate scandal and the women’s movement stood a young lawyer named Jill Wine Volner (as she was then known), barely 30 years old and the only woman on the team that prosecuted the highest-ranking White House officials. Called “the mini-skirted lawyer” by the press, she fought to receive the respect accorded her male counterparts – and prevailed. In The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President, Jill Wine-Banks takes us inside this troubled time in American history, and it is impossible to read about the crimes of Richard Nixon and the people around him without drawing parallels to today’s headlines.

At once a cautionary tale and an inspiration for those who believe in the power of justice and the rule of law, The Watergate Girl is a revelation about our country, our politics and who we are as a society.

Sponsored by Berger Memorial Chapel, Martha & Jim Bogart, Bob Germain & Bruce Glatter and Jean & Stan Margul

RON BALSON 7:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Brad A. Sandler, Immigration Attorney and Partner at Stinson LLP Ronald H. Balson returns to the Festival with Eli’s Promise, a captivating saga of the Holocaust and its aftermath spanning decades and continents. Taking place in three different historical eras – Nazi-occupied Poland, the American Zone of post-war Germany, and Chicago at the height of the Vietnam War – Balson’s latest novel explores the human cost of war, the mixed blessings of survival, and the enduring strength of family bonds. Powerful and emotional, Eli’s Promise is a novel centered on World War II and a husband’s quest for justice. Ron Balson’s work as a practicing trial attorney has taken him into courts across the United States and into international venues. Balson is a National Jewish Book Award winner and has been a finalist for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction, and a finalist for the Premio Bancarella Italian Literature Award.

Sponsored by Dana & Barry Sandweiss, Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library and Gloria & Sandy Spitzer

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Friday, November 6 CLAIRE SAFFITZ

DAVID MARWELL

11:00am | $18 Interviewed by Jo Firestone, Comedian and Lifelong St. Louis Friend

2:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Warren Rosenblum, PhD, History, Politics & International Relations, Webster University

Claire Saffitz is a baking hero for a new generation.

In Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence, fans will find Claire’s signature spin on sweet and savory recipes like Babkallah (a babka-challah mashup), Apple and Concord Grape Crumble Pie, Strawberry-Cornmeal Layer Cake, Crispy Mushroom Galette and Malted Forever Brownies. She outlines the problems and solutions for each recipe – like what to do if your pie dough for Sour Cherry Pie cracks (patch it with dough or a quiche flour paste!) – as well as practical dos and don’ts, skill level, prep and bake time, and foundational know-how. With Claire at your side, everyone can be a dessert person.

Sponsored by Nancy & Al Siwak and Harvey Kornblum Foundation

Event includes a bake-along!

Recipe will be emailed in advance.

One of the most notorious war criminals of all time, Dr. Josef Mengele has come to symbolize both the evil of the Nazi regime and the failure of justice in the postwar world. Drawing on new scholarship and sources, historian David G. Marwell examines Mengele’s life and career in Mengele: Unmasking the Angel of Death. He focuses on Mengele’s university studies, which led to two PhDs and a promising career as a scientist; his wartime service in combat and at Auschwitz; and his postwar refuge in Germany and South America.

David G. Marwell, Ph.D. has had a distinguished career in public history. He spent nine years at the US Department of Justice, where he researched the investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals in the United States, as Chief of Investigative Research.

Sponsored by Glorida Feldman and Howard N. Lesser

Saturday, November 7

MYSTERY NIGHT 7:00pm | $20 SARA PARETSKY

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

Sara Paretsky created the character of V.I. Warshawski in 1982, creating a believable investigator with the grit and smarts to tackle problems on the mean streets, thereby challenging a genre in which women typically were either vamps or victims. Her first novel, Indemnity Only, was followed by 19 more best-selling Warshawski novels. In Dead Land, Warshawski gets pulled into a clandestine money deal, finding herself in the path of some developers whose negotiating strategy is simple – they bulldoze or kill any obstacle in their way. She discovers a terrifying conspiracy stretching from Chicago’s parks to a cover-up in the American government’s interference in South American politics. Sara Paretsky’s books are published in 30 countries. A movie entitled V.I. Warshawski was released in 1991, starring Missouri’s own Kathleen Turner.

Author Change!

Hank Phillippi Ryan is a USA Today bestselling author of 12 thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, three Anthonys, the Daphne and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. Book critics call her “a master of suspense.” Her previous novel, The Murder List, is an Agatha, Anthony, Macavity and Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee. Hank’s newest novel is The First to Lie. The Publishers Weekly starred review says “Stellar… Hank Phillippi Ryan could win a sixth Agatha with this one.”

Sponsored by Booksource, in memory of our founder, Sandy Jaffe 314.442.3299 • stljewishbookfestival.org

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Sunday, November 8

LIEL LEIBOVITZ 2:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Eric Berger, Associate Editor, St. Louis Jewish Light From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a meditation on the deeply Jewish and surprisingly spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics. Few artists have had as much of an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he created – Spider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four – occupy Hollywood’s imagination and production schedules, generate billions at the box office, and come as close as anything we have to a shared American mythology.

This illuminating biography, Stan Lee: A Life in Comics, focuses as much on Lee’s ideas as it does on his unlikely rise to stardom. It surveys his cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between celebrated comic book heroes and the ancient tales of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. From close readings of Lee’s work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel’s history, the book paints a portrait of Lee that goes much deeper than one of his signature onscreen cameos.

Sponsored by Dr. Arthur Gale, Nancy & Ken Kranzberg, Rubin Family Foundation and Sh’ma Listen! Jewish Federation of St. Louis

BRUCE FEILER 7:00pm | $18 Interviewed by Sylvia Nissenboim, LCSW, Lifework Transitions, LLC Life is in the Transitions is a pioneering and timely study of how to navigate life’s biggest transitions with meaning, purpose, and skill. Feiler identifies a powerful new tool kit for navigating these pivotal times. Drawing on his extraordinary trove of insights, he lays out specific strategies each of us can use to reimagine and rebuild our lives, often stronger than before. Bruce Feiler is the author of 15 books, including six consecutive New York Times nonfiction best-sellers. Among the best-sellers is Council of Dads, a book that describes how he responded to a diagnosis of a rare cancer by asking a group of men to be present in the lives of his young daughters. The book was the subject of a TED Talk and inspired the NBC drama series Council of Dads. Bruce writes the This Life column in the Sunday New York Times and is also the writer/presenter of the PBS miniseries Walking the Bible and Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler.

Sponsored by Myrtle & Bernard Kornblum’s Changing World Fund and Rabbi Carnie & Paulie Rose

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2020 FESTIVAL SPONSORS A Special Thank You to our Sponsors for their Generous and Continued Support!

People of the Book Sponsors

In memory of our founder, Sandy Jaffe

Fox Family Foundation

Dr. Arthur Gale

Howard N. Lesser

Ann S. Lux

Jean & Stan Margul

Gloria & Sanford Spitzer

Authors Circle Sponsors

Marie & Stuart Block Lee Bohm Robin & David Chervitz Gail Glaser

Sidney & Bobbi Guller Family Foundation Gianna Jacobson & Todd Siwak Aurelia Konrad Charitable Foundation

Harvey Kornblum Foundation Samuel Krupnick Memorial Scholar-in-Residence Fund

314.442.3299 • stljewishbookfestival.org

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2020 FESTIVAL SPONSORS Literary Chair Sponsors Berger Memorial Chapel / Richard & Linda Stein and Emily Stein MacDonald Gail & David Berwald Martha & Jim Bogart The Delmar Gardens Family Eileen Schneider Edelman Sara Epstein Gloria Feldman & Family in Memory of Rubin Feldman Bob Germain & Bruce Glatter Howard Hearsh

Margie Horowitz Judith & Ted Isaacs Phyllis & Stephen Kamenetzky Myrtle & Bernard Kornblum’s Changing World Fund Nancy & Ken Kranzberg Kuhn Foundation Susan Nagarkatti St. Louis NORC - Jewish Federation of St. Louis

Rabbi Carnie & Paulie Rose The Rubin Family Foundation Dana & Barry Sandweiss Judi Scissors & Sam Broh Sh’ma Listen! - Jewish Federation of St. Louis Nancy & Al Siwak Stacy & Greg Siwak Frank and Bessie Spielberg Foundation Ultra-Color Corporation

Rochelle Kraines Harris in Memory of Les Harris Myrna & Arnold Hershman Irene & Jim Hirschfield Pam Mendelson Holly Phyllis Hyken & Jerome Nuell Joanne & Joel Iskiwitch Margaret & Martin Israel Guy B. Jaffe & Judy Schwartz Jaffe Charitable Foundation Karin Krakover & Michael Loebner Gail & Carl Lang Carole C. Levin Lois C. Levin Louise & Jeffrey Levine Merle & Richard Linkemer Jerri & Bill Livingston Rochelle Weiss & Stephen Loeb Lynn & Carl Lyss Ricki & Neil Marglous Cynthia Payant & James White Lenore & Eddie Pepper

Wendi Alper-Pressman & Norman Pressman Mary & Sanford Pomerantz Adinah & Heschel Raskas Marilyn & Gary Ratkin Jodie & Sue Rich Barbara & Don Rubin RubinBrown LLC Julie & Monte Sandler Eileen & Larry Schechter Helen & Julian Seeherman Andy & Stan Shanker Regina Shapiro Marsha Soshnik David Soshnik Ann & Alan Spector Julie B. & Tim Stern Elaine & Marc Tenzer Dr. Alvin and Ray Wenneker Lisa & Art Weiss Dr. Michael & Barbara Williams Linda Yatkeman Aleene Schneider Zawada

Pageturner Sponsors Penny & Marc Alper Judy Berger B’nai B’rith St. Louis Missouri Lodge #22 Harvey Brown Marilyn K. & Steven Brown Sue Matlof & Michael Cohen Florence Cohn Debbie & Jeffrey Dalin Jennifer & Jonathan Deutsch Eidelman & Traub, DDS Gail & Charles Eisenkramer Edie & Stephen Feman Rochelle & Stan Ferdman Irene Fox & Floyd Emert Dr. Bruce Frank & Enid Weisberg-Frank Julie & Leonard Frankel Diane Fredman Dr. William & Hillary Friedman Dorette & Ed Goldberg Debbi Grebler Deborah Gilula Cindi & Keith Guller

Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Contact Rachel Simoneau at 314.442.3189.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival is able to promote events year-round, featuring talented, best-selling, award-winning authors and entertainers. This leads to the Festival receiving local and national recognition as one of the premier Jewish Book Festival in the United States. Thank you for your support!

Our sincere appreciation for sponsorships received after the printing of this brochure.

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2020 FESTIVAL CO-SPONSORS Community Co-Sponsoring Organizations Anti Defamation League Bais Abraham Congregation B’nai Amoona Sisterhood Central Reform Congregation Congregation Shaare Emeth Congregation Temple Israel Crown Center for Senior Living

Jewish Community Relations Council Jewish Family Services Jewish Student Union Jewish War Veterans Kol Rinah Sisterhood National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis Section

Shaving Israel St. Louis County Library St. Louis Jewish Light St. Louis Rabbinical & Cantorial Association United Hebrew Congregation

Novel Women Page Turners Temple Emanuel Book Club

The Bookees The International Literary Ladies The Roundtable

Co-Sponsoring Book Clubs A La Carte Book Club Barnes Jewish Hospital Auxiliary Book Club Book Babes

2020 St. Louis Jewish Book Festival Executive Board Festival Co-Chairs: Barb Williams & Jim Bogart Vice Chairs Bookstore: Marilyn K. Brown & Louise Levine Vice Chairs Hospitality & Interviewers: Bob Germain, Judi Scissors, Judy Plocker, Judy Schwartz Jaffe Vice Chairs Sponsor Relations: Judy Berger, Julie Frankel, Jean Margul, Paula Sigel Vice Chairs Community Engagement: Bonnie Solomon, Barb Kramer, Marcia Mermelstein Vice Chairs Volunteer Engagement: Bruce Glatter & Pam Holly Vice Chairs Special Events: Eileen Edelman, Regina Shapiro, Ray Wenneker

Committee Chairs Raffles & Auction: Barb Raznick & Ann Spector Book Clubs: Ray Wenneker & Edie Feman Co-Sponsors: Marcia Lyons, Beth Saltzman, Diana Katz Interviewers: Marilen Pittler, Linda Kusmer, Julie Frankel Missouri’s Own: Linda Kusmer, Hillary Friedman, Gloria Spitzer, Carole C. Levin Sport’s Night: Rhonda Appel, Myron Holtzman, Earl Salsman Women’s Night: Debbi Grebler & Paula Sigel

Staff

Follow us: facebook.com/stljbf @thejstl_arts

Manager, Jewish Programs: Diane Maier Director, Cultural Arts: Zelda Sparks Technical Director: Laura Skroska Director, Jewish Engagement & Adult Programs: Rabbi Brad Horwitz

Jewish Book Council The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival is proud to be a long-term partner of the National Jewish Book Council. The following authors are represented by the Council: Johanna Silver, Jill Wine-Banks

Program of the Jewish Community Center