2023 Keynote: Howard Jacobson
“With Jewish Book Week now into our eighth decade, Howard Jacobson, who has been speaking at the festival for almost half of our existence and predates us by just 10 years, delivers a specially created keynote: How the Jews Invented Disappointment. The Booker winner explains: “When asked to name what Jews were best at, I […]
Nazi Looted Art, A Time of Reckoning?
Speakers: Anne Webber, Lord Neuberger, Hannah Rothschild The discovery of a huge cache of Nazi-plundered paintings in a Munich flat brings hope that thousands of other looted artworks may be found. The revelation has focused worldwide attention on the German authorities and their and others’ moral and legal equivocations. Anne Webber, Co-Chair of the Commission […]
What Future For American Jews?
December 2022 saw the first-ever White House Roundtable on Antisemitism, with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, describing ‘an epidemic of hate facing our country’. With Jewish students experiencing hostility and threats on campuses, spikes in antisemitic invective on social media platforms, antisemitic outbursts from some elected officials, public figures and […]
Shalom Auslander & Howard Jacobson
Mothers loom large in Jewish culture and literature in general. They feature in the titles – and contents – of the latest books by two of the most acclaimed authors around; Shalom Auslander’s novel Mother for Dinner and Howard Jacobson’s memoir Mother’s Boy. Now as the opening event of the 72nd annual Jewish Book Week, […]
Pop Starts: Bob Stanley & Graham Gouldman
Let’s Do It: The Birth of Pop author Bob Stanley talks to 10CC founder Graham Gouldman about his long music career and the beginnings of pop music in the first half of the 20th century.
Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England
Speakers: Anthony Julius, Debis MacShane In his magnum opus, Anthony Julius looks fairly and squarely, with no propensity to exaggeration,. at the history of anti-semitism from Medieval times with their blood libels, through exclusion and gradual rehabilitation, to today’s alarming new brand of anti-Zionism. Here he discusses his work with one of the staunchest opponents […]
Howard Jacobson, Henry Goodman, Derbhle Crotty
From the Ground Up: Building a new National Library of Israel
Speakers: Hannah Rothschild, Jason Frantzen, Oren Weinberg, Harry Rich The new National Library of Israel (NLI), adjacent to the Knesset in Jerusalem, is on schedule to open its doors in 2023. The building, along with its surrounding gardens and plazas, has been designed by world-renowned architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron to reflect the central […]
Peter Sellers: Hollywood and Home Movies
Speakers: Jason Solomons, Sarah Sellers, Peter Lydon, Ronnie Ancona Internationally renowned for his performances in The Goon Show, The Pink Panther film series, Dr Strangelove and many more, Peter Sellers remained an enigma during his life and beyond. A descendent of the famous 18th-century Sephardi Jewish boxer Daniel Mendoza via his music hall actress mother […]
Robert Alter on Nabokov
Speakers: Robert Alter, David Herman One of the world’s leading literary and biblical scholars turns his attention to one of the most polarising novelists of all time in this unmissable online event. Live from the US, Robert Alter, professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at Berkeley since 1967, joins literary critic David Herman, to discuss […]
Linda McCartney Behind the Lens
Speakers: Mary McCartney, Nicholas Claxton, Brian Clarke, Brett Rogers, Nicola Christie Linda McCartney was known globally in numerous roles: activist, entrepreneur, musician and, in her own words, ‘Jewish mother’. But the one that came first and continued alongside the others was photographer. Beginning her career at Town and Country and coming to wider attention after […]
Letters of Light
Speakers: Yigal Zalmona, Rachel Elior Micha Ullman’s “Letters of Light” will stand in the southern portion of the new National Library of Israel campus in Jerusalem, at a prominent crossroads between the Israel Museum and the Knesset. Anchored in ancient Jewish mystical text and drawing inspiration from alphabetic traditions of other cultures, the ground-breaking work […]