Seventh Annual Jewish Book Festival features 18 authors at 16 events

We live in uncertain times. The news is filled with dire events — it gets to be too much. Activism and speaking out are a couple of coping tools; being the kind people we know we can be is another. What about a few hours for peace and renewal? How about reading a good book?

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. So, with a love of books, reading and education, we bring you the 7th Annual Jewish Book Festival featuring 18 authors at 16 events!

While six of the 16 Festival events will already have taken place by the time you read this article, you can still participate in the other 10 events. Here’s a rundown of the 2021-22 Jewish Book Festival events remaining:

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2 p.m. • The Hilton

Joshua Jay: “How Magicians Think” One of the world’s most accomplished magicians not only reveals the artistry, history and traditions of magic, but also brings us directly into the mind of a magician. He describes how they develop their skills, conjure up illusions and delight their audiences. While doing so, he reveals another kind of secret: what it takes to follow your heart and achieve excellence.

Named “Magician of the Year” in 2012, author Jay has made noteworthy appearances on The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show. He has performed and lectured on magic all over the world.

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 7 p.m. • virtual

Sylvia Foti: “The Nazi’s Granddaughter” Growing up in Chicago, Foti was treated like royalty in her tightly knit Lithuanian community. Why? Because her grandfather was hailed as a hero, a martyr for Lithuanian independence, and an unblemished patriot. He’d resisted his country’s German and Soviet occupiers in WWII and survived two years in a Nazi concentration camp, only to be executed in 1947 by the KGB.

But author Foti, a journalist and teacher, in 2000, learned a different story, and since then has published research on the deeds of her grandfather, who turned out to be an alleged perpetrator of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 12 noon • virtual

Bob Abelman: “All The World’s A Stage Fright” What starts as a stunt to increase readership for the Cleveland Jewish Chronicle becomes much more. Local theater critic Bob Abelman accepts an acting role with a top-tier theater company so he can write about the experience from the inside. When the play he’s cast in turns out to be Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” he confesses “an irrational, overriding, mind-numbing fear” of Shakespeare.

Author Abelman relates his personal battle with the Bard with laughout-loud humor, creating a tale full of twists and turns, endearing characters and behind-the-curtain action.

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m. • The Hilton

Charles Lichtman: “The Sword of David;” and Alexander Weinstein: “Universal Love” Lichtman, an expert in Middle East affairs, uses that expertise in the creation of his novel “The Sword of David.” Protagonist Chaim Klein unexpectedly finds the long-lost Ark of the Covenant, but then must search for the Ten Commandments tablets. Along the way, he discovers the mystical, awe-inspiring sword of David. Klein must also stop a consortium of Islamic states and terrorists planning a simultaneous attack to obliterate dozens of Western cities and, of course, Israel.

Weinstein’s “Universal Love” welcomes readers to a near-future world where technologies have altered the possibilities and limits of how we love one another. These gripping stories spotlight emotions. In one, a young boy tries to understand why his father can’t sever ties with the drowned city they call home. In another, a girl gets to know her dead mother’s hologram better than she ever knew her mother when living.

Author Weinstein, a professor of creative writing, has received numerous awards for his short story collections.

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m. • Temple Shalom

“People of the Book” event Joshua Greene: “Unstoppable: Siggi Wilzig’s Astonishing Journey from Auschwitz Survivor & Penniless Immigrant to Wall Street Legend”

Proving once again that truth can outdo fiction, “Unstoppable” is the ultimate immigrant story and an epic David vs. Goliath adventure. Siggi and his family were deported to Auschwitz. There, Siggi used his wits to stay alive, pretending to possess trade skills the Nazis could exploit to run the camp. After surviving two death marches and near starvation, he was liberated and went to work for the U.S. Army to hunt Nazis. This service earned him a visa to America, where he vowed three promises: to never be hungry, to always support the Jewish people, to speak out against injustice. From humble beginnings, he made his way to CEO of a major company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Author Joshua Greene is a renowned Holocaust scholar and filmmaker whose biographies have sold more than half a million copies worldwide.

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2 p.m. • virtual

Leah Garrett: “X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II” In the midst of WWII, a new commando group is formed of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. Most hail from Germany and Austria, and many have been interned as enemy aliens. They’ve lost their homes, families, everything. This motley group of intellectuals, artists and athletes will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top-secret unit becomes known as X Troop.

Author Garrett is a professor at Hunter College and director of its Jewish Studies Department.

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2 p.m. • NJC

Jonathan Santlofer: “The Last Mona Lisa;” and Tracy Walder: “The Unexpected Spy” Santlofer begins his novel in August 1911, when Vincent Peruggia steals the famous Mona Lisa portrait. What happens in the two years before its recovery remains a mystery. Art historians know that many replicas exist. Is the one returned to the Louvre real or a fake? In present time, art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor, the thief, Peruggia. His search for truth tumbles him deep into the world of art and forgery, of obsession and danger.

Author Santlofer has written five novels and earned the Nero Wolfe Award for best crime novel of 2009. “The Unexpected Spy” is the true story of author Tracy Walder’s tenure in the CIA and, later, the FBI. She tells of her assignments to watch al-Qaeda members with drones while President Bush looked over her shoulder and CIA Director George Tenet brought her donuts. Driven to stop terrorism, Walder debriefed terrorists — men who swore they’d never speak to a woman — until they gave her leads.

Author Walder received many awards for her service from the CIA and some foreign intelligence offices. She served as Staff Operations Officer in the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center before, during and after September 11, 2001.

Friday, Feb. 25, 12 noon • virtual

Jan Cherubin: “The Orphan’s Daughter” A work of literary fiction, this debut novel depicts the life of a girl growing up in the shadow of her charismatic but troubled father, Clyde Aronson. The cruelties of Clyde’s boyhood in a Depression-era Jewish orphanage have scarred him. He yearns for a son to replace the relationship lost when his father abandoned him. Instead, he fathers daughters, the younger of which — Joanna — receives most of his resentment because she most resembles him.

Author Cherubin worked as a fact checker at New York magazine, a staff writer at the New York Daily News, an editor at Seventeen Magazine, a playwright and a stand-up comic.

Monday, March 7, 2 p.m. • virtual

Mark Sullivan: “The Last Green Valley” A young family in the midst of WWII faces excruciating choices: Do they flee from Stalin’s forces pushing into Ukraine or wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk a bleak future in Siberia? Or do they reluctantly accept the protection of Hitler’s SS pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans and evacuate Ukraine for who-knows-where?

Author Sullivan is the acclaimed author of more than 20 novels, including the #1 Kindle bestselling “Beneath a Scarlet Sky” and the #1 New York Times bestselling “Private” series, which he writes with James Patterson.

Thursday, March 17, 2 p.m. • JCMI

Eddie Shapiro: “A Wonderful Guy” This compilation of intimate, career encompassing conversations with 19 of Broadway’s most prolific and fascinating leading men comes as a follow-up to his earlier book, “Nothing Like A Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater.” As a theater journalist, Shapiro digs deep into each actor’s career, fleshing out the story of what it means to be a leading man on Broadway over the past 50 years.

Author Shapiro grew up singing music from every cast album he could get his hands on. He is the son of Don Shapiro of Naples.

Make Your Reservations

The website is filled with all the information and is ready to accept your reservations. A few clicks at www.jewishbookfestival.org and you will be on your way! Become a patron or a sponsor and enjoy!