A spectacular 2020-21 “virtual” Jewish Book Festival season features 21 authors at 19 events

Beginning in December and concluding in March, the Sixth Annual Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival will once again offer a dazzling series of author events. This year’s festival, however, is quite different from previous festivals. Challenged by the social distancing requirements of the pandemic, the Festival is being presented virtually. By offering the events through Zoom, the Jewish Book Festival, a project of the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples, in cooperation with the Jewish Book Council, continues to be a key contributor to the cultural life of our community.

While five of the 19 Festival Events will already have taken place by the time you read this article, you can still choose from 14 events. Here’s a rundown:

Wednesday, Jan. 6, at 3 p.m.

You will have the opportunity to hear from Debbie Cenziper, an investigative journalist who earned the 2007 Pulitzer Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy award for human rights reporting. Her book, Citizen 865: Hunt for Hitler’s Soldiers, tells a gripping story of Nazi hunters, against the forces of time and political opposition, pursuing WWII mass murderers hiding in the U.S. Sponsored by Jewish Congregation of Marco Island and John R. Wood Properties

Monday, Jan. 11, at 4 p.m.

We are delighted to welcome back author Susan Jane Gilman, who captivated us during our first Book Festival with her bestseller The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street. Her newest book, Donna Has Left The Building, is an edgy novel that offers a mix of comedy and tragedy, as it takes us on a road trip through friendships, passionate love and Tikkun Olam. And come prepared to toast the Jewish Book Festival as Susan shares a special drink recipe with us. Sponsored by Daymaker Hair Salon

Thursday, Jan. 14, at 7:30 p.m.

Zoom in for Alexandra Silber, who will not only talk about her memoir White Hot Grief Parade but will also once again enthrall us with a couple of songs. When her father dies after a decade-long battle with cancer, Alexandra, a teenager at the time, feels like his death is the end of everything. Told with raw passion, candor and wit, this reminiscence is an ode to the restorative power of family and friendship. Sponsored by TheatreZone

Tuesday, Jan. 19, at 10:30 a.m.

In celebration of the power of women, two authors will explore the struggles women have encountered in making an impact. Janice Kaplan, The New York Times journalist, asks the plaintive question: “Why do 90% of Americans believe that geniuses are almost always men?” Her book, The Genius of Women: From Overlooked to Changing the World, uses a unique mix of memoir, narrative and inspiration to make surprising discoveries about women geniuses now and throughout history.

Jill Wine-Banks, author of The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President, was barely 30 when she became the only woman on the team that prosecuted the highest-ranking White House officials in what the world has forever after known as “Watergate.” The fact that she was called “the mini-skirted lawyer” and “a girl” demonstrates her need to battle to receive the respect accorded her male counterparts. And she prevailed. Sponsored by Women’s Cultural Alliance and Senior Housing Solutions

Monday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m.

Author Meg Waite Clayton will talk about her bestselling novel, The Last Train to London. Based on actual events, her book tells the story of a Dutch woman, known as Tante Truus, who dares to approach Adolf Eichmann to rescue thousands of children from Nazi-occupied Vienna through the Kindertransport operation. Clayton’s screenplay of the novel was chosen for the prestigious The Writers Lab, sponsored by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. Sponsored by Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center

Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 10:30 a.m.

Did you know that Israel’s Mossad operated a luxury diving resort? Author Raffi Berg will fill you in on the details. His book, Red Sea Spies, explains that guests from around the world flocked to the resort, where staff members were undercover spies working for Israel’s secret service. What began with one cryptic message pleading for help morphed into the secret evacuation to Israel of thousands of Ethiopian Jews.

This nonfiction page-turner tells the true story that inspired the recent Netflix drama “The Red Sea Diving Resort.” Berg, who is the Middle East editor of the BBC News website, has extensive experience reporting on Israel and the wider region. Sponsored by Jewish National Fund and Naples Jewish Congregation

Monday, Feb. 8, at 7:30 p.m.

We can all use a good laugh, and Alan Zweibel will not disappoint! Join us when this five-time Emmy Award-winner once again regales our community with his humor. His new book, Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier, weaves his own stories with interviews of his famous friends and contemporaries. The book thus becomes a humorous and warmhearted cultural memoir of American comedy. Sponsored by Men’s Cultural Alliance and Alison Craig Home Furnishings

Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 1 p.m.

Steven Zipperstein, author of Law and the Arab- Israeli Conflict: The Trials of Palestine, will provide a historical perspective of this conflict. In the late 1920s and 1930s, the Arab- Jewish conflict in Palestine had become as much a battle fought in the courtroom as in the streets. It played out in three separate, little-known trials. Zipperstein paints a brilliant portrait of how the arguments the parties made in those three trials continue to resonate today, nearly 100 years later. Zipperstein, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Middle East Development at UCLA’s Global Studies program and School of Public Affairs. Sponsored by Wollman Gehrke & Associates

Monday, Feb. 15, at 1 p.m.

Get ready to hear about a harrowing nonfiction tale that unfolds like a stirring novel. Bestselling author Howard Blum will talk about Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler’s Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill and Stalin. At a top-secret conference in Tehran in 1943, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin meet to discuss further prosecution of the war. A hand-picked team of Nazi commandos have six days to accomplish their daring assignment. Pitted against them are the head of FDR’s Secret Service detail and a Soviet agent from the NKVD, precursor to the KGB. Sponsored by Beth Tikvah continued on page 22

Sunday, Feb. 21, at 7:30 p.m.

Enjoy a lesson in Chinese history from Pulitzer Prize- winning reporter and author Jonathan Kaufman. His book, The Last Kings of Shanghai, documents the little-known history of the Sassoons and the Kadoories, two Jewish families originally from Baghdad. They greatly influenced Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, helping to create Modern China. China bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, Kaufman also describes how the families joined together to rescue and protect 18,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. Sponsored by Women’s Cultural Alliance and TOP Jewish Foundation

Wednesday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m.

Zoom in for the 2021 People of the Book Cultural Event. Featured speaker Neal Bascomb is The New York Timesbest-selling author of The Winter Fortress, Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile. Bascomb’s newest book, Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best, is a compelling tale of three misfits whose prowess gave Hitler his comeuppance. In the 1930s, Hitler dominated the apex of motorsport, the Grand Prix—until this unlikely trio orchestrated the race that Hitler made every effort to erase from history. Some of the author’s research for this book was done at the Revs Institute in Naples. Sponsored by Temple Shalom Men’s Club

Thursday, March 11, at 1 p.m.

Meet Ariana Neumann, author of When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains. This true story reads like fiction — and may seem difficult to believe. Of 34 Neumann family members, 25 were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was the author’s father, who built an industrial empire in Venezuela, but could never talk about the unspeakable experiences of the Holocaust. After he died, Ariana found a trove of letters, diary entries and other items, launching her on a world-wide search to discover more. Sponsored by Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center

Monday March 15, at 1 p.m.

You will have the opportunity to listenas Bess Kalb tells her story, Nobody WillTell You This But Me: A True (as Toldto Me) Story. Emmy-nominated TV writer for “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” andcontributor to The New Yorker, Bess Kalb savedher grandmother Bobby’s voicemails. When Bobby died at age 90, Bess was not surprised that her voice continued to speak to her. This debut memoir channels the grandmother who regales Bess with stories of four generations of indomitable women and the men who loved them. Sponsored by Naples Senior Center

Tuesday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m.

The 2020-21 Book Festival will conclude with Pamela S. Nadell, American historian, researcher, author and lecturer focusing on Jewish history. Nadell’s book, America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, is a gripping historical narrative, in which the author weaves together the stories of a diverse group of extraordinary people, including such luminaries as Grace Nathan, Emma Lazarus, Bessie Hillman and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Together, they showcase how Jewish women maintained their identity and influenced social activism as they wrote themselves into American history. Sponsored by Women’s Cultural Alliance

For a complete schedule of events, registration information, book synopses and information about becoming a Patron as well as a list of contributing Sponsors, please visit JewishBookFestival.org. For questions, email Reneé Bialek at rbialek@jewishnaples.org.