Arts & Entertainment

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JEWISH BOOK FAIR

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Fair

A peek behind the curtains at the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's 54th
Annual Jewish Book Fair.

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Diana Lieberman

Special to the Jewish News

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etroit-area paparazzi will
be aiming their cameras
toward the Jewish
Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit during the
next two weeks.
Celebrities — and those who
write about them — are front
and center at the JCC's 54th
Annual Jewish Book Fair. The fair,
which opens Wednesday, Nov. 2,
and runs through Sunday, Nov. 13,
brings more than 30 authors to
the JCC's West Bloomfield and
Oak Park buildings. Of these,
many are familiar to television
and movie audiences, either as
performers, newsmakers or
media personalities.
Well-known figures appearing
at the JCC in West Bloomfield
include opening night speaker
Jack Klugman, who eulogizes fel-
low Odd Couple star Tony Randall
in his memoir Tony and Me. Actor
Tab Hunter — who, as he tells us
in Tab Hunter Confidential, also
had Jewish forebears (who knew?)
— speaks at 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov.
12. Both actors will illustrate their
talks with video clips.
Daniel Libeskind, the closest
thing to a celebrity in the world of
architecture, presents the Second
Annual Irwin Shaw Memorial
Lecture Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 8:15
p.m. The author of Breaking
Ground, Libeskind talks about his
embattled plans for New York's
World Trade Center site and his
life in architecture.
Also on hand will be celebrity

sportscaster Len Berman and for-
mer Saturday Night Live comedy
writer Alan Zweibel; Jake
Steinfeld, fitness guru to the stars;
and Abigail Pogrebin, whose book
asks celebrities what they think
about being Jewish.
But celebrities are not the only
speakers at this year's event, said
co-chair Gail Fisher of West
Bloomfield.
"Every year, we try to find a
variety of authors," said Fisher, a
six-year book fair volunteer. "It's a
year-long process. We have a very
hard-working steering committee
that starts in on next year's book
fair even before we finish this
one'
Every book featured at Book
Fair was either written by a Jewish
author or has a topic with a strong
Jewish connection. All speakers
must have published their books
within the current year.
"When we go to Book Expo
America, held this year in New
York, we hit every section:' said
Elaine Schonberger, JCC cultural
arts director. "If the authors are
there, we try to meet them, so we
can see what they're like."
After the Expo, Schonberger
attends three days of meetings of
the Jewish Book Council Network.
"They have three days of meet-
ings and talks by authors," she
said. "Directors from Jewish book
fairs all over the country come."
Of all the Jewish book fairs in
the United States — and their
number grows every year —
Metro Detroit's is the first and still
among the largest.

Ladies Of The Book

Along with her work on Book Fair,
Fisher also is a volunteer at the
Holocaust Memorial Center in
Farmington Hills. And, as she
examines each year's new books,
she is on the lookout for literature
focused on the Holocaust and the
immigrant experience.
"I'm currently reading the book
Bridge to America to my 8-year-old
daughter, a chapter a night:' she
said. "It's a great book. She can't
wait to hear the next chapter."
Recommended for young people
ages 8-12, the novel folloWs the
adventures of a Jewish family left
in Poland in 1920 while their
father strives to earn enou
money in America so they can join
him there. Author Linda Glaser
will speak about Bridge to
America, and the true story that
inspired it, at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov.
13, at the JCC in West Bloomfield.
Another Holocaust-related book
for young people is The Six Million
Paper Clips by Peter Schroeder and
Dagmar Schroeder-
Hildebrand. Written for young
people in grades 4-8, it tells
the true story of how a
school in Tennessee complet-
ed a project to understand
the scope of the Holocaust.
The authors, White House
correspondents for a group
of German newspapers,
helped the school publicize
the project to collect 11
million paper clips to show
just how many people,
Jewish and otherwise, were
murdered. The school then
obtained a German railcar to

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Staff photo by Angie Baan

October 27 .2005

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