Answers to frequently asked questions about the Jewish Book Festival

A message from your Book Festival Co-Chairs

It’s finally here. After months and months of planning, the 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival kicks off within days! We hope you are as excited as we are about the spectacular lineup of authors taking part in this year’s Festival.

Getting to this point has taken a great deal of effort, and we offer our heartfelt thanks to the Jewish Book Festival Committee as well as to our “technical advisor,” Larry Israelite. We also express our appreciation to the Federation staff for their assistance and support. It certainly does take a village to put on the Book Festival.

Of course, we could never bring you this outstanding array of 19 events without the generous financial support of our Patrons and Sponsors. With the ongoing pandemic, our Sponsors need your support now more than ever before.

By now, we are a community of experienced “Zoomers!” But if you have questions or need assistance with Zoom, please don’t hesitate to contact Reneé Bialek. We are working on having closed captioning available so that anyone needing it will be able to fully enjoy each event.

Each year, before the Festival begins, we are asked many of the same questions — and this year is no different! Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.

Q. Is it necessary to have read the book to enjoy an author’s presentation?

Not at all. The authors’ presentations will be interesting and enjoyable whether or not you have read the book. Many times, hearing the author entices people to read the book. We hope you will consider supporting the authors by purchasing their books, either before or after the event. Purchasing information will be included in the event emails.

Q. What qualifies an author to be part of a Jewish Book Festival? Some of the authors are not Jewish.

In order to be invited to our Jewish Book Festival (as well as to be part of the Jewish Book Council), either the author has to be Jewish or the book topic needs to have relevance to Judaism.

Q. Why didn’t you create a “traditional” book festival with all of the events taking place over a one- or two-week period?

Many communities do have a oneweek to one-month Jewish Book Festival, typically held in November, Jewish Book Month. When we planned our first Book Festival in

2016, we considered this option, but rejected it for two reasons. First, too many of our community members would not have returned to Southwest Florida in time. Second, it would be very difficult to find time during “season” when Festival events would not conflict with other programs in our community. While both of these reasons are not quite as relevant now that the Festival is virtual, we still feel that spreading out the Festival makes each event feel special and more enjoyable.

We look forward to Zooming with you on Thursday evening, Dec. 3, as we welcome author Lori Gottlieb and local NPR personality Cary Barbor, who will be the moderator.

Virtually yours,

Susan & Robin

Susan Pittelman and Robin Mintz Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival Co-Chairs