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The 22nd Annual Cherie Smith
JCC JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL
November 18 - 23, 2006


Program | General Information | Children's/YAT | Schedule | Special Thanks | Our Supporters

   
Saturday, November 18

OPENING NIGHT CELEBRATION

7:30 pm
The Cherie Smith Memorial Lecture Evening
Hal Wake In conversation with Jonathan Safran Foer


"Ingenious, hilarious, heartbreaking" are adjectives used to describe JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER who published his first international best-selling novel, Everything is Illuminated at age 25. Foer was celebrated as one of Rolling Stone's "People of the Year" and Esquire's "Best and Brightest". Everything is Illuminated has won numerous awards, including the Guardian First Book Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Prize and it was named Book of the Year by The Los Angeles Times. The film, Everything Is Illuminated, optioned by Warner Independent was released in September 2005. It starred Elijah Wood and was directed by Liev Schreiber. Jonathan Safran Foer's latest international bestseller, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is in its fourth hardcover reprinting and has been optioned for film by Scott Rudin Productions in conjunction with Warner Brothers and Paramount Pictures.
Jonathan Safran Foer has had stories published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and Conjunctions. He is the editor of a best-selling anthology of writing inspired by the bird boxes of Joseph Cornell, A Convergence of Birds (DAP, May 01). His libretto "Seven Attempted Escapes from Silence" was performed by the Berlin State Opera House in September 2005. He is currently collaborating on a book called Joe with Hiroshi Sugimoto and Richard Serra. Foer lives in Brooklyn, New York.

HAL WAKE has been engaged with the literary community in Canada for more than 30 years. In the mid '80s he was the book producer for CBC Radio's Morningside with Peter Gzowski and has hosted or moderated more than a hundred literary events at Festivals in Vancouver, Victoria and Sydney, Australia. Hal's reviews have appeared in the Georgia Straight and the Vancouver Sun and he's currently the Artistic Director of the Vancouver International Writers Festival.

Book signing and refreshments following event.

This event is presented with support from the Cherie Smith Memorial Lecture Evening Endowment Fund.

Advanced tickets: $25 + GST. Advanced tickets can be purchased at JCC reception or by calling 604.257.5111. Tickets at the door: $30 including GST per person.
Location: Norman Rothstein Theatre

 
Sunday, November 19


POETRY BRUNCH
11:00 am

Host: A singer, songwriter, author and poet, GENA PERALA challenges the way she and the people around her live and think. Gena Perala's books include Keep it Together (2005) and I am a Worst Case Scenario Girl (2003). Her debut solo CD will be released this fall. She performs in Vancouver with her indie rock band "Friends Like Us".
LAURIE BLOCK is a poet, playwright and storyteller. His most recent book Time Out of Mind (Oolichan Books, 2006) is a moving and honest collection of poems exploring the poet's journey into darkness, death and desire. Block's other works include Governing Bodies, and a bilingual poetry collection, Foreign Grace/Bendiciones Ajenas. Laurie Block lives in Brandon, Manitoba.
RENEE NORMAN is a writer, a teacher and an award-winning poet. She completed her doctorate at UBC in 1999. She wrote House of Mirrors, a book based on her Ph.D. dissertation on women's autobiographical writings. Her recent book of poems, True Confessions (Inanna, 2005) captures the sensuous and surreal, the serious and the serene, the simple truths about life. It received the Canadian Jewish Book Award for poetry. She lives in Coquitlam, BC.
SUSAN GLICKMAN has published five acclaimed books of poetry, most recently Running in Prospect Cemetery: New and Selected Poems (Vehicule Press, 2004) and an award-winning book of literary criticism, The Picturesque & the Sublime: A Poetics of the Canadian Landscape (McGill-Queens University Press, 1998). Her most recent book, her first novel, The Violin Lover, is receiving rave reviews. Susan lives in Toronto.
NAOMI BETH WAKAN has written/compiled over 30 books. Her most recent books are Segues (2005) and Late Bloomers: On Writing Later in Life (2006), both published by Wolsak and Wynn and Writing (Pacific Edge Publishing, 2006). Perhaps her best known book is the American Library Association selection, Haiku-One Breath Poetry. Naomi lives on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, with her husband, the sculptor, Elias Wakan.
RAFI AARON’s book Surviving the Censor: The Unspoken Words of Osip Mandelstam has attracted international attention. He delivered the Alexander Mackenzie Memorial Lecture in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2004. His exhibit, A Seed in the Pocket of their Blood, was viewed by over a million people in Canada, the US and Israel. A documentary on Rafi's works, entitled The Sound Traveller, aired on Bravo TV and Book Television this past year.

POETRY BRUNCH (7101) - Cost: $12 + GST per person. Register online To Register or at JCC reception. Please register by Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm to assure yourself a space. A limited number of seats are available.

Location: L'Chaim Adult Day Centre Lounge

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Sunday, November 19


CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP
11:00 am

Vancouver illustrator, SIMA ELIZABETH SHEFRIN, invites children, ages 6 to 10 to join her in a behind-the-scenes look at what the animals were doing in their less memorable moments, as they prepared to board Noah's Ark. Participants will create brightly coloured cut-paper illustrations using the same technique that Sima Elizabeth employed in her illustrations of Ellen Schwartz's new picture book, Abby's Birds. The characters created during the workshop will be displayed at the Young Authors' Tea, which follows the workshop.
Sima Elizabeth Shefrin works extensively in community arts, and is the artist co-ordinator of the Middle East Peace Quilt, the Kerrisdale Community Centre Welcoming Quilts, and the Art of Living Together, a multicultural project, which helped to build bridges between the Jewish community and other cultures in Vancouver.

(7102) Cost: $5 plus GST. Register online To Register or at JCC reception. Please register by Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm. Only a limited number of spaces are available. If space is available at the door, the cost will be $8 including GST. This workshop is geared for children ages 6 to10.
Location: Adult Arts and Crafts

Children’s Activities
12:00 am - 1:00 pm
11th Annual Young Authors' Tea
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Wosk Auditorium

 
Sunday, November 19


GUEST AUTHOR and ILLUSTRATOR
at the Young Authors' Tea

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

ELLEN SCHWARTZ launched three new books in 2006, Stealing Home (Tundra Books), Yossi's Goal (Orca Books) and Abby's Birds (Tradewind Books) illustrated by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin. Ellen will read excerpts from her new books and discuss their origins and the writing process. Yossi's Goal tells the story of Yossi, a Jewish immigrant boy in Montreal who longs to play hockey. When his father becomes ill and cannot work, all Yossi's hard earned savings must go to help the family, not to buy skates. Stealing Home is a can't-put-it-down story of racial tension, baseball, and everyone's hero, Jackie Robinson. Abby's Birds is a charming story of an improbable friendship between a little girl and her elderly Japanese neighbour. Ellen is the author of twelve books for young readers. She is working on the fifth book in her Starshine series and planning a culinary mystery with her daughter who is a pastry chef. Ellen Schwartz lives in Burnaby, BC.

SIMA ELIZABETH SHEFRIN will lead an interactive illustration activity based on Abby's Birds, the book she illustrated. Sima Elizabeth works extensively in community arts, and is the artist co-ordinator of the Middle East Peace Quilt, the Kerrisdale Community Centre Welcoming Quilts, and The Art of Living Together, a multicultural project, which helped to build bridges between the Jewish community and other cultures in Vancouver.

 
Sunday, November 19


WRITING WORKSHOPS
1:00 pm

LATE BLOOMERS WRITING WORKSHOP
It's never too late to begin writing!


NAOMI BETH WAKAN's Late Bloomer's writing workshop is designed for the over-50’s participant who has always wanted to write, has maybe written a few pieces and thrown them into a drawer, or left them in a computer file, and who would like to get going and complete that poem, essay, short story, memoir, travel piece, or the Great Canadian novel that lies unfinished. This is a jump-start workshop of encouragement and empowerment. If you've ever uttered the words "some day I'd like to write," this workshop will get you going. Naomi Beth Wakan is an essayist and poet who is devoted to inspiring others to write. She has written/compiled over 30 books. Her most recent are Segues (2005), Late Bloomers: On Writing Later in Life (2006), both published by Wolsak and Wynn and Writing (Pacific Edge Publishing, 2006).

(7103) Advanced registration - $18 plus GST - JCC members, seniors or students - $20 plus GST for non-members. Register online To Register or at JCC reception. Please register by by Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm. After Nov. 15, cost will be $25 including GST.
Location: Adult Lounge

3:00 pm

PROSE AND POETRY WORKSHOP
Making the Ordinary Extraordinary - Injecting Wild imagery into your Writing


RAFI AARON's new book of prose-poetry Surviving the Censor: The Unspoken Words of Osip Mandelstam (Seraphim Editions, 2006) is filled with colourful images and unusual combinations of words one wouldn't think would sit together on the same line, e.g., "Blue running for its life in a sea of red" and "a bullet hole in the ankle of the dream." In this workshop, there will be exercises designed to jumpstart word associations, to sharpen imagery and to encourage the participant to write from an entirely new perspective. Rafi will explore writing about the character of a subject as opposed to its physical characteristics. Both poets and prose writers are invited to attend.

(7104) Advanced registration - $18 plus GST - JCC members, seniors or students - $20 plus GST for non-members. Register online To Register or at JCC reception by Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm. After Nov. 15, cost will be $25 including GST.
Location: Adult Lounge

This workshop is presented with support from Seraphim Editions.

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Sunday, November 19 


STORYTELLING CONCERT
5:30 pm

Wisdom and Folly: Folktales, Personal Experiences and Just Plain Folly.
Storytellers, Laurie Block and Kay Stone, Share the Stage

A Talking Kugel, the Nun on a Bun, and a Baba's secret love affair with Marc Chagall. From a blend of memory, invention and family history, award-winning author and storyteller LAURIE BLOCK weaves tales that liberate laughter and wring a tear. As well as facilitating workshops for teachers, writers and storytellers of all ages, he's performed at the Sundog, Yukon and Winnipeg International Storytelling Festivals. His poetry has appeared in anthologies and magazines across the country and in two books, the bilingual Foreign Graces/Bendiciones Ajenas, (1999) and Time Out of Mind, (2006). His short story, While the Librarian Sleeps won the 2004 National Magazine Award Gold Medal for fiction. Laurie Block lives in Brandon, Manitoba.

Through her training as folklorist and then storyteller, KAY STONE learned that Elijah the Prophet can appear in the "fairy godmother" role in Cinderella tales, that a wise horse can advise his foolish master, and that an unwanted and unnamed Rabbi's daughter can out-riddle a king and become his queen. Kay has been telling these stories and countless more since the 1970s, in schools, universities, and at international storytelling festivals in Canada, the United States and Europe. She has given workshops and courses at various universities in Canada and the US, and is the founder of two storytelling groups - Stone Soup Storytellers and Eldertales. Kay has written numerous articles and two books on stories and storytelling, The Golden Woman and Burning Brightly. She is presently completing a third book, Some Day Your Witch Might Come. Kay Stone lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This concert is being presented with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Program.

PAPER BAG DINNER 1
7:00 pm

Enjoy the Storytelling Concert and stay for dinner and a play! Dinner (salmon, assorted
salads/vegetables & beverage) is catered by Nava Creative Kosher Cuisine. Deadline to
pre-order dinners is Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm. The option to pre-order dinner
is open to anyone. Pick up your pre-paid dinner at Nava’s and avoid line-ups.
(7105) Cost: $12 + GST. To Register

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Sunday, November 19 


THEATRE with a Taste of Yiddish Poetry
8:00 pm

HELEN MINTZ' moving and humourous one-woman show, On the Other Side of the Poem is an act of reconciliation of the artist with her own Yiddish speaking past in Eastern Europe, with her role as a storyteller, and with contemporary Germans. The storyteller's journey leads her to the groundbreaking writing of Yiddish poet Rokhl Korn (who lived in Canada for the last 34 years of her life and died in 1982) and to the vibrant world of Yiddish literature. Helen Mintz has toured in Canada, the United States, Germany and Lithuania. The play's title is based on the late Rokhl Korn's poem. "On the other side of the poem amazing things may happen. Even on this overcast day, this wounded hour." Rokhl Korn

Writer and Performer: Helen Mintz
Dramaturg and Director: Lynna Goldhar Smith
Sound Designer: Amos Hertzman.

(7104) Advanced registration - $10 plus GST - JCC members, seniors or students - $12 plus GST for non-members. Register online To Register or at JCC reception by Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm. After Nov. 15, cost will be $15 including GST.
Location: L'Chaim Lounge

This play was developed with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

 
Monday, November 20


SCHOOL FIELD TRIP
9:30 am

JOAN BETTY STUCHNER
will read from her newest book, Sadie the Ballerina (Scholastic Canada, 2006). When Joan was a little girl, she took dance lessons at a ballet school. At home she used to dance in every room and in the garden. When she wasn't dancing, she was creating characters and making up stories. When she grew up she became a writer - telling stories instead of dancing them. She loves ballet as much as she loves books and still dresses up as a ballerina from time to time. Joan Betty Stuchner's other books include Shira's Hanukkah Gift (Scholastic, 1998) and A Peanut Butter Waltz (Annick Press). Her Hanukkah and Rosh Hashanah poems, as well as Jewish stories, have been published in both Ladybug and Spider magazines and she has acted in community theatre and as a storyteller on TV's Tell A Tale Town. She has a B.A. in English Literature and a teaching diploma. Currently, Joan Betty Stuchner teaches at Temple Sholom Religious School and is a library assistant at UBC.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. Vancouver Talmud Torah's grade 2’s will be in attendance.
Location: Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library

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Monday, November 20


LECTURE & LUNCH
12:00 pm

Motivational speaker and author, LYVIA L. SMITH will read excerpts from her book, The Joy of Positive Thinking - How to be Up.... When You're Down! Lyvia has long suffered with acute rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis and fibromayalgia. For eleven years of her illness, she was confined to either a bed or wheelchair. At one point, she spent more than eight months in hospitals and during a two-year period she underwent major surgeries during which she was given a 5 to 10 per cent rate of survival. She has been cited as the only person in the world whose jaw has fused as a result of her illness. Despite the recent loss of her husband and other setbacks, she continues to persevere and to inspire others to live life to its fullest. Lyvia is a dynamic speaker whose wit and humour appeal to a wide audience.

FULL

Location: Wosk Auditorium

This event is being presented in association with the JCC Seniors and the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver.

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Monday, November 20


SCHOOL FIELD TRIP
1:00 pm


Vancouver author SHAR LEVINE is an internationally award-winning, best selling author of children's science books and science toys/kits. She has written over 50 books and with her co-author and best friend, Leslie Johnstone, has just won the prestigious 2006 Eve Savory Award for Science Communication from the BC Innovation Council. Their book, Backyard Science (2005), was chosen as one of the best books of the year by Science Books and Films and was short-listed for the Subaru Prize (hands-on activity books) from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Shar will be performing activities from one of her new books, Sports Science. Other recent books include First Science Experiments: The Amazing Human Body, First Science Experiments: Magnet Power and Smart Lab-Secret Formula.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. Vancouver Talmud Torah's grade 5’s will be in attendance. (Photo credit: Photo by Jeff Connery)
Location: Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library

 
Monday, November 20


LITERARY READING with a Musical Twist
7:00 pm

Susan Glickman will read from The Violin Lover. Macey Cadesky and Agnes Klinghofer will perform musical excerpts by Bach, Mozart & Respighi.

Award-winning poet SUSAN GLICKMAN is receiving rave reviews for her first novel, The Violin Lover (Goose Lane Editions, 2006). Set in the Jewish community in London, England, between the two World Wars, The Violin Lover tells the story of a secret love affair and the many lives it affects. Susan has published five acclaimed books of poetry, most recently Running in Prospect Cemetery: New and Selected Poems (Vehicule Press, 2004) and an award-winning book of literary criticism, The Picturesque & the Sublime: A Poetics of the Canadian Landscape (McGill-Queens University Press, 1998). Formerly a professor at the University of Toronto, Susan currently teaches writing at Ryerson University and through Writers in Electronic Residence. She lives with her husband and two children in Toronto.

MACEY CADESKY has been a professional violist/violinist and teacher for five decades. Orchestral credits include fourteen years as a member of The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (under Walter Susskind, Seiji Ozawa and Karl Ancerl), the former CBC Toronto Orchestra, Stratford Festival Ensemble (Solo Viola), Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (Principal Viola), New Chamber Orchestra (Principal Viola), National Ballet Orchestra, Canadian Opera Orchestra (Principal Viola) and others. He has performed countless Solo Recitals, Chamber Music, in Radio, Television, Theatre Orchestras and Commercial Recordings. Macey lives in Vancouver.

Born in Nanaimo, BC, AGNES KLINGHOFER studied violin and composition at the University of British Columbia, at the Toronto Conservatory and at Yale University. She has played numerous radio and public recitals and chamber music concerts as well as in the Filarmonica de Las Americas in Mexico City, and with the Vancouver Symphony, the C.B.C. Chamber Orchestra in Vancouver, the Toronto Symphony, the C.B.C. Symphony in Toronto, CJRT Orchestra in Toronto, the Chamber Players of Toronto as well as the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. In 1998 she returned to Vancouver where she often plays chamber music.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This event is presented with support from Goose Lane Editions in association with Congregation Beth Israel.

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Monday, November 20


LECTURE & STAND-UP COMEDY
8:00 pm

The Happy Neurotic: How Fear and Angst Can Lead To Happiness And Success!

According to DAVID GRANIRER's recently released book The Happy Neurotic, you can be happy, productive, and well-adjusted while remaining as neurotic as ever! David's hilarious and irreverent talk will reveal how to use negative emotions to create happiness and success and still have a sense of humour about it all. His book challenges many popular New Age teachings. Readers will learn why they shouldn't trust the universe, why self-programming for success often doesn't work, about fear-driven people who live charmed lives and how to use humour as a powerful tool for celebrating one's own dysfunctions!

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

 
Tuesday, November 21


SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS
9:30 am

DR. HILLEL GOELMAN will discuss and read excerpts from What is Jewish about America's 'Favorite Pastime'? Essays and sermons on Jews, Judaism and Baseball, a recent book edited by Marc Lee Raphael and Judith Z. Abrams and published by the College of William and Mary Press. Hillel has written a chapter in this book called Mythic Baseball, Mythic Judaism: Time, Space and the Journey of Soul. He is a professor at UBC, a Rabbi, a lover of Judaism and of baseball. Hillel Goelman will share his observations on the similarity of the inner beauty, logic and mystery in both baseball and Judaism. His bar mitzvah invitation was signed by Sandy Koufax, the greatest pitcher of all time who refused to pitch on Yom Kippur in the 1965 World Series.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. Grade 9’s from King David High School will be in attendance.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is being presented with support from King David High School.

12:30 pm

Born in New York City, poet, novelist, teacher and family counselor, ELLEN S. JAFFE has spent much of her life in Canada and presently lives in Hamilton, Ontario. In her first novel for young adults, Feast of Lights Ellen brings together curiosity about family stories, compassion for grief and the healing process, love of celebration (and food), concern about world events, and the conviction that fantasy and imagination CAN make a difference in "real life." She has won three awards from Arts Hamilton, for her non-fiction book Writing Your Way: Creating a Personal Journal, her collection of poetry, Water Children, and for her single poem Mary, published in Parchment 2004, the journal of contemporary Canadian Jewish writing. Ellen has written a play for children, Jason's Quest, adapted from the novel by Margaret Laurence, who is one of her literary heroines. Ellen invites her audience members to come and listen to her story and to bring their own special family stories to share.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. Grade 8's from King David High School will be in attendance.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is supported by Sumach Press.

2:00 pm

Toronto author and storyteller AUBREY DAVIS delights in telling bottomless, spellbinding, often zany Jewish tales from many lands. Bagels from Benny is about a young boy's quest to give thanks. Every Friday, Benny puts a bag of bagels in the synagogue for God and by Saturday morning, the bagels have disappeared. This heartwarming tale raises intriguing questions about belief, generosity and hidden possibilities. Bagels from Benny won the Canadian Jewish Book Award and the Sydney Taylor Award. Aubrey Davis is a featured teller at Canadian festivals, conferences, on radio and television. He has an M. Ed. in psychology and adult education and is a retired teacher. In 2006 he wrote a screenplay for Sheldon Cohen's animated short, The Three Wishes, produced by the National Film Board and PMA productions. His other books include, Sody Salleratus, The Enormous Potato and Bone Button Borscht.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. Vancouver Talmud Torah's grade 1's will be in attendance.
Location: Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library

This reading is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Grant.

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Tuesday, November 21


LITERARY READINGS
5:00 pm

Human rights lawyer, DAVID MATAS will discuss and read excerpts from his book, Aftershock: Anti-zionism and Antisemitism (The Dundurn Group, 2005) in which he identifies the failure of the human rights system to prevent attacks on Israel and the Jews as an aftershock of the Holocaust. He is the author of several books including Justice Delayed: Nazi War Criminals in Canada (1987) with Susan Charendoff; Closing the Doors: The Failure of Refugee Protection (1989) with Ilana Simon; No More: The Battle Against Human Rights Violations (1994); Bloody Words: Hate and Free Speech (2000). David Matas is senior counsel to B'nai Brith Canada. He has an honourary doctorate awarded in 1996 from Concordia University. David Matas lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is being presented in association with the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Program.

6:00 pm

ELAINE KALMAN NAVES will discuss and read excerpts from Shoshanna's Story: A Mother, A Daughter, and the Shadows of History (McClelland & Stewart, 2003) and from her memoir Journey to Vaja: Reconstructing the World of a Hungarian-Jewish Family (McGill-Queens University Press, 1996). Shoshana's Story won the 2003 Mavis Gallant Prize and a 2005 Canadian Jewish Book Award. Journey to Vaja was the winner of the 1998 Elie Wiesel Prize for Holocaust Literature and has been made into a documentary film called Paradise Lost. Elaine was born in Hungary and grew up in Budapest, London and finally in Montreal, where her parents, ambivalent about their Jewishness in the face of their devastating losses, fashioned a new life designed to obscure their past. Elaine Kalman Naves is a journalist, critic, broadcaster, and the author of five books. She is a frequent reviewer and contributor on literary subjects for the Montreal Gazette.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is being presented in association with Canadian Friends of Hebrew University with support from the Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Program.

PAPER BAG DINNER 2
4:30 - 7:00 pm

For those who want to attend the reading(s) and stay through dinner for the AGM, we are offering Paper Bag Dinners (salmon, assorted salads/vegetables and beverage) catered by Nava Creative Kosher Cuisine. Deadline to pre-order dinners is Wednesday, November 15 at 5 pm.
(7108) Cost of dinner is $12 plus GST. The option to pre-order this dinner is open to anyone. Please note on the registration form what time you would like to pick up the pre-paid dinner at Nava Creative Kosher Cuisine. To Register

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Wednesday, November 22


SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS
9:30 am

A Birthday Surprise is SEEMAH CATHY BERSON's debut children's book published in 2006 by Purple PeaPod Press. Born and raised in Calcutta, India, Seemah has raised four children and grandchildren and has been writing and illustrating poems and stories for her grandchildren for many years. She acquired a Masters Degree in Anthropology from UBC. Her thesis was on Jewish Immigrants to Canada who worked in the Needle Trades. She is co-editor of an anthology of Canadian Jewish Outlook, a magazine on whose collective she has been a long-time member and contributor. Seemah is also a soapstone carver, walking stick designer and an active community volunteer.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. JCCGV Shalom Preschool will be in attendance.
Location: Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library

12:30 pm

Award-winning Victoria author REBECCA GODFREY captivates audiences as she speaks about and read excerpts from Under the Bridge: The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk (HarperCollins Canada, 2005). After six years of researching one of the most notorious and heartbreaking murder cases in Canadian history, the stunning truth is revealed about a tragedy that captured international headlines and created a debate about youth violence. Awards include The Arthur Ellis Award for Best Non-Fiction, The BC Award for Non-Fiction, and Finalist for the Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize. Rebecca Godfrey is also the author of the highly acclaimed novel, The Torn Skirt (HarperCollins Canada, 2001), which was nominated for a BC Book Prize and widely praised for its portrait of adolescence. Rebecca currently lives in New York.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. King David High School grades 11 and 12 students will be in attendance.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is supported by a Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Grant.

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Wednesday, November 22


LITERARY LECTURE

10:30 am

NORMAN RAVVIN edited and co-published the recent reissue of Henry Kreisel's novel, The Rich Man, originally published by McClelland and Stewart in 1948. The Rich Man was the first novel by a Jewish author on Jewish themes to be published by a mainstream Canadian Press. It represents the beginning of a tradition that would produce the work of Mordecai Richler, Leonard Cohen, and Adele Wiseman, among others. The novel's action opens in 1935 with a striking portrait of Toronto's working-class Spadina Avenue district. Kreisel's portrait of prewar Jewish life in Europe and Canada helps us better understand the oncoming Holocaust. Born in Austria, he fled the Anschluss and, after being interned by the British and Canadian government as an "enemy alien," established himself as a writer, professor and university administrator in Edmonton. He received the Order of Canada in 1988; he died in 1991.

Ravvin will place The Rich Man in context, discuss its importance as a Canadian novel. He will read excerpts bringing The Rich Man's unusual narrative to life. Ravvin is a critic, editor, teacher, lecturer and award-winning author. His books include Lola by Night, Sex, Skyscrapers and Standard Yiddish, Hidden Canada: An Intimate Travelogue and A House of Words: Jewish Writing, Identity and Memory. He is the editor of Not Quite Mainstream: Canadian Jewish Short Stories and co-editor with Richard Menkis of The Canadian Jewish Studies Reader. Norman currently lives in Montreal and chairs the Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This lecture is being presented in association with the JCCGV Seniors with support from Concordia University and the Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Program.

 
Wednesday, November 22


COOKING DEMO & LUNCH

12:00 pm

Entrepreneur, celebrity chef and cookbook author SUSAN MENDELSON reveals the cooking secrets she has been using to impress people everywhere for more than 20 years in her newest book, Mama Now Cooks Like This (Whitecap, 2006). Through her catering company, The Lazy Gourmet, she has won numerous awards. She has also been named caterer of the year by The Vancouver Sun and been featured in Women of Taste. Susan has published several books including Mama Never Cooked Like This, Let Me in the Kitchen and Nuts about Chocolate.

(7109) Cost: $12 plus GST - includes cooking demo and a lunch.
SOLD OUT

Location: Wosk Auditorium

This event is being presented in association with the Jewish Family Service Agency,
Temple Sholom Synagogue and the JCCGV Seniors Department.

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Wednesday, November 22


LITERARY LECTURE

7:00 pm

ROBERT KRELL, emeritus professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia and founder of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, wrote the introduction for the recently released book And Life Has Changed Forever: Holocaust Childhoods Remembered. This book contains 21 precious personal accounts from child and adolescent Holocaust survivors. The stories were collected and edited primarily by Martin Ira Glassner. The narratives are grouped by age, those born before 1930, between 1930 -1935, and those born after 1935. In addition to the introduction, Dr. Krell also wrote a psychosocial commentary following each age grouping, reflecting on the memories, struggles and accomplishments of the survivors. Dr. Robert Krell is himself a child survivor from Holland.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is presented in association with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

 
Wednesday, November 22


AUDIO-VISUAL PRESENTATION

8:00 pm

SHEILA DELANY's talk and stunning audio-visual presentation honour Elias Levita's achievement in its cultural context: German anti-Judaism, Italian Renaissance, the first ghetto, the woman reader, attitudes toward Islam and Catholicism. Elias Levita straddled two fifteenth-century cultures, German and Italian. His rip-roaring Bovo-Bukh, reworked from an Italian verse romance, revolutionized Yiddish literature, became a staple of Yiddish culture for centuries, and gave us the term "bobe-meises" (tall tales). Dr. Delany taught English and Comparative Literatures, including Medieval Hebrew Literature and Yiddish Literature, at SFU until her recent retirement. Her work is known worldwide among medievalists. She has lectured in many countries including Israel, Australia, Poland, Holland, England and Hungary. She is editor of Turn it Again: Jewish Medieval Studies and Literary Theory, (Pegasus, 2004) and Chaucer and the Jews: Sources, Contexts; and author of Meanings (Routledge, 2002), Telling Hours: Journal Stories (New Star, 1991), and of many books and articles in her field.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is presented in association with Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture and the Shaya Kirman Memorial Foundation for Yiddish Culture.

 
Wednesday, November 22


LITERARY TALK (Downtown location)

8:00 pm

Well known writer, educator and broadcaster, SID TAFLER will read from Us and Them: A Memoir of Tribes and Tribulations (NETBC Publishing, 2006), a story of a changing country, changing people and a new understanding of identity, belonging and the place we call home. Tafler has edited and contributed to several books and has won six national and regional writing awards, including a Western Magazine Award (2001) for an article on the first humans in North America and has twice been a finalist at the National Magazine Awards. He served as editor of Monday Magazine and writer-in-residence at the Festival of Written Arts in Sechelt, BC. Sid Tafler was born and raised in Montreal, has lived most of his adult life in Alberta and British Columbia, has traveled to Israel frequently and currently lives in Victoria, BC.

MELANIE FOGELL's first book, Ambiguous Selves: New Jewish Identities (Detselig Enterprises Ltd, 2006), is a profound exploration of her search for identity as a Canadian Jewish woman, and of the problems of Jewish identity that Israeli immigrant women face when they move to Canada. Written primarily in the form of a personal essay, Fogell uncovers the ways that we are created by society and how we create society for ourselves, a topic extremely relevant in today's multi-cultural world. She received two degrees in Women's Studies and her doctorate in Educational Research, lectured at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Communications and Culture and in 2007 will teach in the Women's Studies program at UBC. Melanie Fogell is an artist, piano teacher and performer. She is married and has four children. Her future is ambiguous.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.

NOTE: this reading will take place at a
DOWNTOWN SATTELITE LOCATION
Stanley Park Pavillion

Stanley Park Rose Gardens
610 Pipeline Road, Vancouver
Tel.: 604.602.3088. ext. 3221
Directions
Enter the park from Georgia Street. Proceed straight beyond the roundabout past the Rose Gardens. The Stanley Park Pavilion is across from the Rose Gardens beside the Malkin Bowl.

This event is presented in association with the Vancouver Downtown Jewish Community with support from NETBC Publishing and the Stanley Park Pavillion.

 
Thursday, November 23


SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS
9:30 am

EVA WISEMAN will be reading from her fourth book, Kanada, a powerful novel set during the long, difficult aftermath of World War II. In this novel, Eva explores the life of a young girl as she tries to follow her dreams of freedom. Her first three novels for young adults, A Place Not Home, My Canary Yellow Star and No One Must Know, have received high acclaim. A Place Not Home was included in the New York Public Library annual Best Books for the Teen Age list and My Canary Yellow Star won the McNally Robinson Books for Young People award. Eva Wiseman was born in Hungary and came to Canada as a young girl. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband and often visits Vancouver where her son, his wife and three of her six wonderful grandchildren live.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. Vancouver Talmud Torah grade 7 students will be in attendance.
Location: Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library

This reading is supported by a Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Grant.

12:30 pm

CAROL MATAS
will read from her most recent gripping thriller for teens, Past Crimes (Key Porter Books, 2006). As always, Matas's fascination with Jewish history comes into play as she incorporates historical events that happened during the Spanish Inquisition into the present-day setting of Past Crimes. Carol Matas is the internationally acclaimed best-selling author of over thirty novels for children and young adults, including The Freak, Lisa, Jesper and the Rosie Trilogy. Her best-selling work, which includes three award-winning series, has been translated into many languages and has won numerous awards. Carol lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome. King David High School grade 10 students will be in attendance.
Location: Esther and Ben Dayson Board Room

This reading is supported by Key Porter Books and a Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Grant.

 
Thursday, November 23


CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION
7:00 pm

CATHERINE GILDINER is the author of the best-selling memoir, Too Close to the Falls and Seduction, a fictionalized thriller bestseller based on the Ph.D. thesis in psychology she completed on Darwin's influence on Freud. Catherine was born in 1948 in Lewiston, New York, and came to Canada in 1970. She has worked as a clinical psychologist for more than twenty-five years. She also writes journalistic pieces for various newspapers and a monthly column for Chatelaine. She is currently working on a sequel to Too Close to the Falls covering her life between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Gildiner lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and three sons. She is on a Masters rowing team that rows competitively worldwide.

In her third novel, A Wall of Light, Israeli-born writer EDEET RAVEL unravels the story of three generations in a Tel Aviv family from the 1950s to the present, as they wrestle with matters of the heart amid the turbulent, often violent climate of their emerging nation. Ravel was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Ten Thousand Lovers, and winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction for Look for Me. She was born on a Marxist kibbutz near the Lebanese border and lived there until she was seven, when her parents returned to their hometown, Montreal. Edeet returned to Israel to study English literature and also holds an MA in creative writing and a Ph.D. in Jewish studies. Edeet Ravel lives in Guelph, Ontario, with her daughter.

Admission is free. Everyone is welcome.
However, as this will be a popular event, please assure yourself of a seat by reserving a ticket. Call the Hadassah-Wizo office at 604.257.5160 by Wednesday, November 15.
A food reception to honour the volunteers of our community will follow in the atrium.
Location: Norman Rothstein Theatre

Readings by these authors are supported by Canada Council for the Arts Literary Reading Grants. This event is presented in association with Hadassah-Wizo Council of Vancouver.

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