Writers from three continents are coming to the Vancouver Jewish Book Festival

by V. S. Wells on January 3rd, 2024 at 11:44 AM

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We’re one year shy of a major anniversary for Vancouver’s Jewish Book Festival, but 39 years is an impressive length of time to do anything.

This year, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver has gathered authors from three continents with hugely diverse works. From biographies of Auschwitz escapees to meditations on art and AI, there’s a broad range of topics on offer.

“We are thrilled to reconnect with our audiences and share moving experiences around books and ideas,” says festival director Dana Camil Hewitt in a statement, “as they create such meaningful community gatherings.”

The fest kicks off on February 10, with Canadian biographer Michael Posner discussing his three-volume exploration of a national icon in Leonard Cohen: Untold Stories. Valentine’s Day sees two spicy novels from LGBTQ+ authors Tamara Faith Berger and Rebecca “Bee” Sacks up for discussion. Jeff Groberman and Steven Mayoff are also set chat about their humourous works, Globetrotting Strikes Again! and The Island Gospel According to Samson Grief.

If graphic novels are your thing, there’s both a panel on why artists chose to make comics, and a discussion of climate hope in graphic storytelling for kids. Various child-focused events are happening throughout the festival, largely at Vancouver Talmud Torah School.

Closing night features true crime stories from Winnipeg’s Allan Levine and filmmaker David Rabinovitch, while a February 25 epilogue sees author Ayelet Gundar-Goshen probe racism and antisemitism in literary thriller The Wolf Hunt.

“The nucleus of our festival is Jewish-themed,” adds Camil Hewitt, “but our speakers, events, and audience happily represent a diversity of cultures and lived experiences that defy narrow categorization.”

You can check out the full program online here.