The month of the Jewish Literary Festival is finally here, and our much-anticipated schedule of sessions is available. It’s not too late to buy tickets.
You don’t need to have read the books to enjoy learning about fascinating topics and be inspired. Diarise the public holiday Monday, April 28, for your literary feast.
We bring you reflections on being Jewish after October 7th in the form of a haunting photobook by photographer Ilan Ossendryver and a book of personal essays by American writers represented by Zibby Owens and Rabbi Rebecca Jablonski. If you are interested in technology and business, hear Lara Rosmarin talk strategies for success with Prof Sandra Vandermerwe, author of Distinguishers: Winning Customers at Speed Scale & Lower Costs, and former CNN news anchor and keynote speaker Nadia Bilchik, author of Own Your Network. JLF stalwart Gus Silber talks to technology expert Arthur Goldstuck about his book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI – A Handbook for all.
We also delve into the lives of iconic figures in South Africa’s business history. MP Michael Bagraim will talk to former MP Michael Cardo about his book on Harry Oppenheimer and the Oppenheimer dynasty.Another mogul we explore is Isidore Schlesinger, the wealthy American who came to Johannesburg and built and then lost a movie empire. Ted Botha, who wrote Hollywood on the Veld, discusses Schlesinger in his book about the glamour and chaos of the film industry in the early 20th century with filmmaker Ari Kruger.
For those who still like novels, the JLF’s own Beryl Eichenberger will be chatting to authors Irene Berman, Angela Rothbart, Joelle Searle, and Debbi Rozowsky about the challenging journey of self-publishing and how and why they published their own books. Also, author Lisa Lazarus talks to fiction writers Barbara Ludman, Karen Lazar, and (a second) Lisa Lazarus about choosing the narrator and perspective for their stories.
On a more solemn note, biographer Joanne Jowell, who wrote I am Ella, about SA’s oldest concentration camp survivor,and author Andrew Robert Wilson, who just released The Fourth Boy, will betalking about their Holocaust-related work with publisher and author Karina Szczurek. Clinical psychologist Connie Valkin talks to academic and writer Nechama Brodie, author of Domestic Terror, and psychologist Adrian Perkel, who wrote Unlocking the nature of human aggression, on the roots of human rage; and violence and terror in the world today.
A new venture this year is our virtual room with authors Dr Peter Friedland, Roy Isacowitz, Peter Godwin, Zibby Owens, and others (Google them if you haven’t heard of them!). And, as the climax of the day, our international keynote speaker, author, and comedian David Baddiel will entertain all attendees at the plenary session in his conversation with Nadia Bilchik.
Your ticket entitles you to a choice of five of the 25 sessions on offer, plus the plenary session, lunch, a complimentary coffee, water and fruit. Seating is unreserved. An added benefit included in the JLF ticket price is a virtual session on Thursday
24 April with Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist: The man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world, in conversation with Gus Silber.
So much to enjoy, and this is just a taste of what you can expect at our day of literary feasting – a world of words awaits you at the JLF 2025. ●
Jewish Literary Festival www.jewishliteraryfestival.co.za
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