Jewish Book Festival offers a spectacular “virtual” season

By Susan Pittelman, Jewish Book Festival Co-chair and Carole J Greene, Jewish Book Festival Author Selection Team

Beginning in December and concluding in March, the annual Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival will once again offer our community a dazzling series of author events. This year’s festival, however, will be quite different from previous festivals. Challenged by the social distancing requirements of the pandemic, we are offering this year’s book festival virtually rather than canceling it. So, instead of driving to the Hilton Naples or Temple Shalom, you will be able to enjoy this vast array of literary events from the comfort of your own home.

By offering the events through Zoom, the Jewish Book Festival, a program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples in cooperation with the Jewish Book Council, will continue to be a key contributor to the cultural life of our community.

Our Sixth Annual Jewish Book Festival will offer a Zoom-tastic variety of 19 events, scheduled at various times and days of the week—and will certainly help fill your calendar. You will have the opportunity to hear 21 authors talk about their books, which reflect a variety of genres. From fact to fiction, history to mystery and so much more, we have scheduled something for everyone to enjoy.

Most of the festival events will feature a solo presenter giving a dynamic 25- to 35-minute talk, followed by approximately 10 to 15 minutes of Q&A. Two book festival events will include two authors, matched by a common theme or genre, with each author speaking separately. Plan for single-author events to run approximately one hour, and two-author events to run an hour and 15 minutes. Put a “reserved sign” on your favorite chair and be ready to join us as we “zoom along together” through our festival.

The 2020-21 Festival will kick off on Thursday evening, Dec. 3, at 7:30 with author and psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb discussing her best selling book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed. Cary Barbor, host of local (WGCU) NPR’s “All Things Considered,” will moderate.

Gottlieb was to be the featured speaker at last year’s Evy Lipp People of the Book Cultural event, so we are thrilled that she will open this year’s festival. Her book peeks behind the curtains to discover the world of both clinician and patient.

Funny and thought-provoking, it reveals what it means to be human, presents an illuminating account of our own mysterious lives, and identifies our power to transform them. Gottlieb is well known for her many television appearances and contributions to such periodicals as The New York Times and The Atlantic’s weekly “Dear Therapist” column. And she will become even better known when the TV series based on her book premieres! Ginsberg Eye is sponsoring this very special event.

The following is an overview of the remaining events in date order for your reference.

Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Enjoy a bit of nostalgia as Andrew Michael Blauner shares his book, The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Gang, and the Meaning of Life. The Peanuts comic strip by the brilliant Charles Schultz celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. Blauner came up with a unique way to pay tribute. He gathered a star-studded roster of 33 writers to dig into the personal truths revealed in Peanuts and the comic strip’s impact on their lives and the broader culture. The result will blanket you in warm-puppy happiness.

Friday, Dec. 11 at 10:30 a.m.

Two authors will discuss their novels. Nessa Rapoport’s Evening, which was featured in the September/October issue of Hadassah Magazine and exposes complicated family dynamics among three generations of women. The story unfolds day-by-day as a griefstricken family sits shiva. The revelations illuminate the past, shape the present and affect the future.

Elayne Klasson’s Love is a Rebellious Bird, is a fictional account of a 60-year love affair. It examines the perennial question of why we love the people we do. This program is sponsored by Collier/Lee Chapter of Hadassah.

Thursday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m.

Be sure to finish lunch in time to hear Lew Paper, author of In The Cauldron, reveal this never-before-told story, that recounts the American ambassador to Japan’s unrelenting efforts to negotiate an agreement between Japan and the U.S. in the months before the Pearl Harbor attack. This nonfiction look at efforts to avert war is a drama befitting the momentous decisions at stake. Generously sponsored by Men’s Cultural Alliance, this “don’t miss” event is offered at no charge.

Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 1 p.m.

Be prepared to be inspired as you listen to Rabbi Corinne Copnick, who, not content with retirement, at age 73, began her six-year journey to ordination as a rabbi. She assumed an unconventional “pulpit” by becoming a guest rabbi on cruise ships. As she explores Jewish life in the ports touched by the cruise liners, Copnick develops insights about the culture and the people encountered in what she calls this “love letter to the gift of being alive.” Temple Shalom Sisterhood is sponsoring this event.

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.

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 Jewish 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. This event is 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 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 that 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. TheatreZone is the sponsor of this event.

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 bestselling 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 highestranking 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. This event is sponsored by Senior Housing Solutions and the Women’s Cultural Alliance.

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 faces down Adolf Eichmann to rescue thousands of children from Nazi-occupied Vienna. Clayton’s screenplay of the novel was chosen for the prestigious The Writers Lab, sponsored by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman. The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center is the sponsor of this event.

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 of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. 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. This event is sponsored by Jewish National Fund.

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 Awardwinner 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 famous friends and contemporaries. The book, thus, becomes a humorous and warmhearted cultural memoir of American comedy. This entertaining evening is sponsored by the Men’s Cultural Alliance.

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 a battle fought in the courtroom as much 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. Wollman Gehrke & Associates is the sponsor of this event.

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. The Men’s Club of Temple Shalom is sponsoring this event.

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

Enjoy a lesson in Chinese history from Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author Jonathan Reed 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. This event is sponsored by the Women’s Cultural Alliance.

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

Zoom in for the 2021 Evy Lipp People of the Book Cultural Event. Featured speaker Neal Bascomb is The New York Times best-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.

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 worldwide search to discover more. The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center is the sponsor of this event.

Monday March 15 at 1 p.m.

You will have the opportunity to listen as Bess Kalb tells her story, Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as told to me) Story. Emmy-nominated TV writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live, and contributor to The New Yorker, Bess Kalb saved her 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. This event is sponsored by the 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. This event is generously sponsored by the Women’s Cultural Alliance.

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