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THE
JEWISH LIGHT
The Jewish Book Council’s Annual Event Goes Virtual — And Offers A Peek Into Authors’ Living Rooms By Josefin Dolsten
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Authors presented their books virtually during the Jewish Book Council's annual conference. (Courtesy of Jewish Book Council)
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(JTA) — In a normal year, the Jewish Book Council’s annual conference is something of a variety show where hundreds of authors take to the podium with two minutes each to convey what makes their book special. The event is part of the council’s attempt to connect writers with Jewish communities across the country. In the audience are about 200 representatives from Jewish community centers, synagogues and other Jewish institutions across the country. On the stage are authors trying to win a coveted spot in the upcoming season of book events. “That energy, it’s amazing,” said the council’s executive director, Naomi Firestone-Teeter. Things looked very different this year as the event, like so many others, went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in the conference’s 22-year history, authors couldn’t see the audience’s reactions and attendees couldn’t schmooze with each other over coffee. Instead, participants watched from their living rooms as authors gave their pitches over Zoom during sessions spread over three days this week. “Being able to be among a crowd of book lovers, or people excited about a particular subject, at our conference — the energy that you just feel when we’re all together you can’t fully replicate that experience as much as we try,” FirestoneTeeter said. Some 240 people tuned in to the program, an increase from the number of attendees last year. Nearly 250 authors — both Jewish writers
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and non-Jewish authors whose books address Jewish themes — participated in eight sessions of author talks, slightly fewer than in 2019 but in line with previous years. One silver lining — at least for the attendees — was getting a peek into their favorite authors’ lives. Novelist Caroline Leavitt spoke about her book “With Or Without You,” about a longtime couple running into relationship problems, from a living room with a small trampoline on the floor and a blue miniature guitar and several large pieces of artwork hanging on a brick-lined wall. Journalist Caroline Cenziper spoke about “Citizen 865,” a narrative history of a team of Nazi hunters searching for Nazis who fled to the United States, from a sparsely decorated room with a black and white striped couch and a single frame with a photo on a white dresser. And Author Hallie Ephron had several large posters featuring her own book covers — including her latest, “Careful What You Wish For,” a thriller about a woman who works as a professional home declutterer — among a handful of other photographs and drawings hanging on her wall. Another upside, for the council, was that the event didn’t require getting on a plane to participate. “It makes it more accessible to communities and people who maybe wouldn’t have been able to travel to See BOOK COUNCIL on Page THE
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JEWISH LIGHT
