Popular sage, Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski,
returns to the Book Fair to promote Do
Unto Others.
which recounts the poignant friend-
ship between an Irish-Catholic boy .
and a rabbi. Hamill is the only non-
Jewish author on the schedule.
After the death of her mother,
journalist Helen Epstein, who is.slat-
ed to speak on Sunday, Nov. 16,
Big League Dreams.
On Sunday, Nov. 9, a
"mini fair" with 20 local
authors will be held in
West Bloomfield from
11 a.m. to 4 p.m..
Authors that include
Judith Lakin Elkin (Jews
of Latin America) and
Dr. Jackie Grekin (After
Death Do Us Part: A
Widow's Guide to
Grieving and A Widower's
Guide to Grieving) will
sign books and talk to
anyone who drops by.
Two weeks before
opening night, Book Fair
central at the
Maple/Drake JCC
buzzed like a hive. Books
were piled up on tables
and plates of sandwiches
and cookies stood lonely
on a table while volun-
teers scuttled around each other
answering phones, checking off titles,
unpacking boxes and loading up
bookshelves.
At the center of the maelstrom
were Kushner, Lipsey and Book Fair
co-chair Andi Wolfe.
Wolfe said she's given up golfing
and reading to devote herself to Book
Fair. She's been co-chairing the event
for three years and expects
next year will be her fourth,
when her husband Larry
assumes board leadership at
the JCC.
"I thrive on this. I love
it," Wolfe said.
Putting the Fair together
is an effort that begins as
soon as the last Fair ends.
As chairpeople, Kushner
and Wolfe spend the entire
year reading about books,
select those they think
would fit into the Fair and
then look for sponsors, who
cover the travel expenses of
the authors and sometimes
hold other events while their
sponsored author is in town.
This year, sponsors range
from Jewish Home and
Aging Services to the Jewish
Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit to the
sisterhoods of Adat Shalom
and Shaarey Zedek to the Jewish
Theological Seminary to the Jewish
National Fund.
The co-chairs traveled to the
American Booksellers Association
convention to meet authors and
begin the selection process. And
while they were not able to coax
some of the authors to come, unpaid,
Israeli architect and sculptor Frank
Meisler wrote a book on his youth dur-
ing World War II.
they are happy with this year's Book
Fair lineup.
"Pete Hamill, Brad Meltzer —
they both wrote fiction, which does-
n't make them topical. It's a different
take on somebody writing on poli-
The Fair features
10,000 volumes
and more than
3,500 titles.
traced her mother's roots three gener-
ations back and wrote Where She
Came From.
Jewish News and Oakland Press
music critic Gary Graff will not only
speak about his guide to the blues,
Music Hound: The Essential Blues
Album Guide, but he'll be accompa-
nied by the local blues band
Mudpuppy on Thursday night, Nov.
13, in Oak Park.
University of Michigan grad Brad
Meltzer, who has been touted . as the
next John Grisham, will talk about
The Tenth Justice on Monday, Nov.
10.
Returning again this year are
Rabbi Abraham Twerski, M.D., and
Allen Hoffman, author of the novel
Below: Celebrity sports columnist/author Mitch Albom with Morrie, the subject of his latest book.