Just Down The Road

Washtenaw JCC presents its 19th
Annual Jewish Book Festival.

Diana Lieberman
Special to the Jewish News

Ann Arbor

A

s parents of countless
University of Michigan stu-
dents can attest, the drive
from Metro Detroit to Ann Arbor takes
only 40 minutes to an hour, depending
on weather and traffic.
Leslie Bash, executive director of
the Jewish Community Center of
Washtenaw County, makes the com-
mute nearly every day. And she invites
all her book-loving neighbors to
join her this year, as the 19th Annual
Jewish Book Festival gets under way.
The festival runs from Sunday, Nov.
5, through Sunday, Nov. 12, at the
Washtenaw JCC in Ann Arbor. Seven of
the event's featured authors — Ruth
Ellenson, Jeffrey Goldberg, Henry
Greenspan, Beth Gutcheon, Aliza
Shevrin, Ayelet Waldman and Laura
Zigman — will make the commute
that week, appearing at both the Metro
Detroit and Aim Arbor events.
Numerous other authors have
scheduled-Ann Arbor appearances
only, beginning with opening-night
speaker,.Steve Roberts. Roberts, author
of My Fathers' Houses: Memoir of
a Family, will speak at 7 p.m. Sunday ,
Nov. 5. Admission to the event is free.
Another nationally known speaker
who will appear only in Ann Arbor is
Rich Cohen, whose most recent book
is Sweet and Low. Cohen, whose
grandfather invented the artificial .
sweetener, will speak at a noontime
Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The cost for lunch will be $8, but you
can bring your own bag lunch, and
hear Roberts' talk for free.
The Book Festival's final day begins
with the annual Local Authors Fair
and Brunch, an opportunity to enjoy
free coffee and bagels while shmooz-
ing with 15 local authors. It takes place
at 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 12.
Eve Aronoff will be on hand with
her book eve: Contemporary
Cuisine, Methode Traditionelle,
which is richly illustrated with pho-
tographs of the Kerrytown restaurant
that bears her name. Also featured at

the brunch will be U-M history pro-
fessor Shirli Gilbert, whose Music of
the Holocaust: Confronting Life in
the Nazi Ghettos and Camps was a
runner-up in the 2005 National Jewish
Book Award's; Robert Tell, author of
Dementia Diary, the story of his
experiences with an aging mother
who is rapidly losing her grip on real-
ity; Rich Adler, w.ho wrote Images of
America: Jewish in Ann Arbon and
many more.
Later on Sunday, Nov. 12, Devyani
Saltzman appears at several activi-
ties to promote her book, Shooting
Water: A Memoir of Second
Chances, Family and Filmmaking.
The daughter of Indian filmmaker
Deepa Mehta, Saltzman began work-
ing with her mother on the contro-
versial film Water at age 19. Raised
by her Jewish father since age 11, the
young woman hoped to reunite with
her mother over this shared adventure.
As Saltzman's book describes, politi-
cally motivated attacks caused pro-
duction to cease for four long years,
but, eventually, both the film and the
mother-daughter relationship got a
second chance for success.
The Michigan Theater will screen
the completed film at 3 p.m., with
regular admission prices in effect. At
6 p.m., the JCC will host an Indian
vegetarian buffet catered by Madras
Masala. Cost for the.buffet will be $15
per person, reservations required.
Saltzman will discuss her book at 7:30
p.m.
For more information on the 19th
Annual Jewish Book Festival in Ann
Arbor, call administrative coordina-
tor Rachel Rosenthal at the JCC of
Washtenaw County, (734) 971-0990.

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See page 70 for a complete
day-by-day schedule of both
the Jewish Community Center
of Washtenaw County's 19th
Annual Book Festival and the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's 55th
Annual Jewish Book Fair;

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October 26 • 2006

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