Defining a Moral Compass for the 21st Century?
Speakers: Susan Neiman, Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Sacks and Susan Neiman outlined their visions for addressing the ethical challenges, both religious and secular, confronting us in the 21st century. In Moral Clarity : A Guide for Grown-up Idealists, Susan Neiman reclaims the secular moral values of the enlightenment as the mature route to social justice, free […]
Sex, Lies and Regal Japes; The story of Esther, the sex-crazed king and his evil counsellor
Speakers: David Aaronovitch, Debbie Chazen, Anita Diamant, Irving Finkel, Assaf Gavron, Kathy Lette, Simon Schama, Udi Sharabani, David Schneider A Purim Spiel, with a contemporary twist, bringing a little bit of Persia to Bloomsbury, with a backbeat of Iranian rhythms and all hosted by our favourite modern-day Sheherazade, David Schneider. Unmasking the Book of Esther […]
A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Speakers: David Lehman, Naomi Gryn Join the author of A Fine Romance, cultural critic David Lehman, as he delves into the American songbook—the compendium of music written from the 1920s to the 1960s that includes Broadway hits, Hollywood musicals and Tin Pan Alley tunes -largely written by Jews. Revealing the less than subtle Jewish subtext […]
The Universal Language of Mathematics
Speakers: Marcus du Sautoy, George Szpiro The two mathematicians, known for their ability to make their science understandable and enjoyable to the most reluctant person, discuss the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics, a universal language that transcends physical and cultural barriers.
The Ascent (and Descent) of Money
Speakers: Niall Ferguson We were delighted to welcome Niall Ferguson, one of those rare historians who is equally brilliant investigating the past, and analyzing the present. The author of the superb Ascent of Money and The House of Rothschild probes with his customary clarity and acuity the relationships between Jews and finance, and anti-Semitism and […]
A Beginner’s Guide to Jews on the Edge
Speakers: Will Self, Adam Thirwell On half-Jews, non-jewish-Jews, self-hating Jews, anti-semitic Jews, et al… Two of the most formidably minded polemicists on the literary scene, Will Self and Adam Thirlwell discuss the many possible manifestations of Judaism and whether any of these semitic permutations actually matters.
Who Will Write Our History?
Speakers: Samuel Kassow, Ben Barkow Hailed by the New Republic as possibly “the most important book of history that anyone will ever read”, Who Will Write Our History? tells the astounding story of Emanuel Ringelblum, who set up a clandestine operation to collect and preserve 35,000 documents in tin boxes buried underground, to preserve the […]
Friendly Fire
Speakers: A.B. Yehoshua, Lyse Doucet An insightful exploration of relationships and of Israeli society today. Yehoshua spoke to Lyse Doucet about the role of literature and the writer in Israel as well as his hopes and fears for the future.
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Speakers: Alain de Botton We spend much of our lives at work – but surprisingly little gets written about what makes work both one of the most exciting and most painful of all our activities. Alain de Botton came to Jewish Book Week to present his ninth book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.
Pursuing Justice
Speakers: Thomas Buergenthal, Philippe Sands Thomas Buergenthal is a truly remarkable man, now one of the 15 judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, responsible for trying war criminals. He spoke here to Philippe Sands about his journey from Auschwitz to The Hague and his faith in justice. He believes that the […]
Rising From The Ashes
Speakers: Avraham Burg, Yossi Mekelberg Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Knesset turned political dissenter, meditates on the current position of Israel and that of the Jewish people worldwide, putting forth the radical notion that Jewish society must stop living in the shadow of the Holocaust. The current political scene offers limited possibilities; The Israeli […]
Jon Ronson: Tales of Everday Craziness
Speakers: Jon Ronson Award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker Jon Ronson is fascinated by the irrational. He has exposed the outright lunacy of some of the world’s most powerful people in his two best-sellers Adventures with Extremists and The Men who Stare at Goats (soon to be an all star cast Hollywood movie). His hilarious new […]