A Big Job

Book Fair co-chairs worked their way up
through the volunteer ranks.

BARBARA LEWIS
Special to the Jewish News

In 1969, attendees peruse books at the 18th Annual
Jewish Book Fair at the Jewish Community Center
at Curtis• and Meyers.

Ever Expanding

Book Fair moved to the Center's Curtis and Meyers
building in 1960, and to the D. Dan and Betty Kahn
Building in West Bloomfield in 1976. Five years ago,
the Center started offering some Book Fair programs
at the Jimmy Prentis Morris (JPM) Building in Oak
Park as well. This year, JPM will host 13 speakers.
"Every session at JPM gets at least 100 people," said
Andi Wolfe, past Book Fair chair. "The Jewish commu-
nity in Oak Park, Huntington Woods and Southfield
are avid readers and they really support the authors."
Book Fair planners no longer pound the pavement
of Fifth Avenue soliciting publishers, but 12 com-
mittee members do attend an annual publishers
exposition to talk to publishers, preview books,
decide which authors to invite and how many copies
of various titles to order.
Irwin Shaw, who lives in West Bloomfield, retired
as executive director in 1971, but he maintains an
office in the Center and a strong involvement with
Book Fair and the Institute for Retired Professionals,
another program he started.
Shaw is proud of the part he played in the publica-
tion of one new book available at this year's Book Fair.
It's the first Hebrew translation of Address Unknown, a
1938 novella by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor that pre-
dicted the consequences of the Nazis' rise to power.
Asher Tarmon, who translated the book into
Hebrew, was in Michigan in 1965 as an Israeli shali-
ach (emissary), and received a copy of the book from
Irwin Shaw. Address Unknown also will be available
in English at Book Fair. ❑

S

andy Stark always told
herself she'd get more
involved in volunteer
activities when she quit
work. So when she left her job as a
corporate trainer for General
Motors, she followed the lead of her
best friend, Andi Wolfe — then
chair of the Jewish Community
Center's Jewish Book Fair.
"This was an area that really
interested me," said current co-
chair Stark of Bloomfield Hills,
who is a past chair of Women's
American ORT, Michigan Region
and active in Temple Israel.
Her first year as a Book Fair vol-
unteer, she helped set up displays
for several categories of books. The
following year she did cashier
training, and soon found herself
on the Book Fair steering commit-
tee, in charge of setup and tear-
down. She was responsible for
knowing the whereabouts of every
book ordered, and for packing and
returning those that weren't sold.
"That's where I really learned
the procedures," she said.
Stark's co-chair, Terri Sinkoff of
West Bloomfield, volunteered in
the library at Green Elementary
School when her children were
younger. A friend suggested she
volunteer at Book Fair. Because
she was familiar with children's
books, she spent most of her time
in the children's section.
Five years ago she was invited onto
the steering committee, where she
was put in charge of selecting chil-

struction company and lives in
Waterford.
Sinkoff, 50, a dental hygienist
by training, has eclectic tastes that
lean toward fiction. She still reads
a lot of children's books. "I got
started when my kids were in
school because I wanted to make
sure they were getting the right
information from the books they
were reading," she _said.
She and her husband, Steven,
have two daughters. Rebecca is a
senior at Michigan State
University, and Hilary is a senior
at West Bloomfield High School.

dren's books and setting up the chil-
dren's section. She continued to
work on the Book Fair floor, offering
suggestions to parents and grandpar-
ents looking for kids' books..
This is the first year Stark and
Sinkoff will lead the committee, and
both rave about their co-workers.
"The committee is a real cross-
section of the com-
munity, with people
who have been on
the boards of syna-
gogues, and all kinds
of clubs and organiza-
tions and agencies,"
said Stark. There's
actually a waiting list
of people who want
to join the commit-
tee, she said.
It's intentionally
kept small — to
approximately 30
Sandy Stark and Terri Sinko are
individuals — so
co-chairs for this year's Book Fair.
everyone can have a
specific job to do.
The Book Fair planners are on the
"We're fortunate to have three
lookout year round for new books of
former chairs, Andi Wolfe, Carrie
Jewish interest or by Jewish authors,
Kushner and Sylvia Gotlib, on our but the real planning for Book Fair
committee," said Stark. "They're
starts in April with the formation of
here often, we can call them and
the steering committee.
ask them anything and they never
The last few weeks before Book
say no. And Irwin Shaw is a real
Fair opens are "chaotic but a lot of
inspiration. We never lose people.
fun," said Sinkoff. "We'd be more
They may step down as commit-
efficient if we could just do what
tee chairs, but they stay involved.
needs to be done and not stop to
It's one of our strongest assets."
look at everything that comes in
Stark and Sinkoff both love to
— but everything is so interesting.
read. Stark, 54, favors biography
"I'm often more intrigued by
and fiction.
first-time or newer authors than
She and her husband, Jay, have
those who are rr).ore well known. I
two sons. Eric, a rabbi, lives in
love discovering gems I might oth-
Baltimore. Michael owns a con-
erwise walk past."

Vw.W.St7' at; RO.WIVOMP'"VEE7

❑

747

0.6

MASIMEWSMEMIMEMMEORM.WENCM

Rabbi Lawrence
Kushner, author
of River of Light

Ruth Gruber,
author of Haven

Alan King,
author of Is
Salami and Eggs
Better Than Sex?

Thomas
Friedman, author
of From Beirut to
Jerusalem

Moshe Arens,
author of
Broken Covenant

Alan Dershowitz,
author of
Just Revenge

*TN

11/2

2001

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