Jewish Book Festival
Literary Events
BOOK LAUNCH
Thu SEPT 18, 7:00pm
MARSHA LEDERMAN – October 7th: Searching for the Humanitarian Middle
In this emotional missive from the diaspora, the best-selling and award-winning author and journalist is reflecting, with deep empathy, on the horrific October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens, rising anti-Semitism, and the brutal violence against civilians in Gaza.
As one of the leading Canadian voices on Jewish identity, Lederman’s impassioned column in the Globe and Mail has been a lifeline for readers since October 7th, 2023. The work collected in this book captures the pain of so many: Marsha’s prose has a way of cutting through the noise and capturing the humanity behind the headlines. She makes room for the reader to be conflicted, grieving, angry and unsure, and is with them through that process as she, like all of us, grapples with a new reality. Marsha’s writing has captured the full complexity of the experience of reconciling an abhorrence of the violence against Israelis and Palestinians with the trauma and fear of rising prejudice around the world.
MARSHA LEDERMAN is a columnist at The Globe and Mail, a recipient of the Jack Webster Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture Reporting and the best-selling author of Kiss the Red Stairs, winner of the Western Canada Jewish Book Award for Memoir/Biography.
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND THE AUTHOR WILL BE SIGNING.
BOOK LAUNCH
SUN SEPT 28, 4:00pm
ALAN TWIGG – Holocaust Hero: The Life and Times of Rudolf Vrba
“At long last a worthy biography of one of the most fascinating and important figures in Holocaust History — Rudi Vrba.” – Christopher R. Browning, historian
Holocaust Hero: The Life and Times of Rudolf Vrba is the first in a planned biography series that explores our own Vancouver hero’s life as an escapee, partisan, Nazi hunter, and truth-teller. Rudolf Vrba, a Slovak Jew, escaped Auschwitz in 1944 and co-authored the Vrba-Wetzler Report, which helped save over 200,000 Hungarian Jews. Twigg’s meticulously researched biography draws from interviews, new archival materials, and Vrba’s own family. The book also explores Vrba’s post-war life as a scientist, whistleblower and outspoken critic of institutional silence.
ALAN TWIGG is the founder of BC BookWorld, a veteran journalist and the author of 20 previous books. A recipient of the Order of Canada, he created rudolfvrba.com, the first major website dedicated to Vrba’s legacy.
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND THE AUTHOR WILL BE SIGNING.
ISRAEL’S LEADING WRITER IS COMING TO VANCOUVER!
THU OCT 30, 7:00pm in the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
ETGAR KERET – Autocorrect: Stories
Translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston
Etgar Keret is the world’s most famous living Israeli author, known for writing short stories that are lean and accessible in style, but whimsical, surrealist, and darkly funny in subject. His work explores life’s smallest, most unremarkable interactions in ways that are profound and unusual. Keret’s seventh story collection is vast in reach, yet grounded in the bewildering absurdity of modern life.
The stories speak to our current moment in time and reveal the fault lines and uncomfortable truths in our society, in a style that is memorably his own. He is famous for his dry, winsome comic sketches, often using fantastical or science-fictional settings, with clever hooks and twists and a melancholic aftertaste.
ETGAR KERET is an Israeli writer and filmmaker. His works have been translated to 49 languages, his writing has appeared in prestigious publications and he has won several awards in film. He teaches creative writing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND THE AUTHOR WILL BE SIGNING.
About the JCC Jewish Book Festival
The Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival is one of Vancouver’s leading cultural and literary events, attracting a large and varied audience of over 5,000 people of all ages. This highly popular community-wide event brings together prominent and emerging Jewish writers and non-Jewish writers on Jewish subject matter.
PAST FESTIVAL PROGRAMS – 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
2025 Digital Guide
JBF Program-2025-DIGITALAuthor Submissions
The JCC Jewish Book Festival’s mandate is to showcase Jewish writers or non-Jewish writers with Jewish interest subject matter. Submissions information for the 2025 Festival – click here
Sponsorship Opportunities
The JCC Jewish Book Festival can help you maximize your message to a diverse demographic audience. Corporate and individual Sponsorships are available. Please phone 604-257-5156 or email jbf@jccgv.bc.ca