28th Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA
October 30 – November 18, 2019
45+ Authors / Two Epic Weeks
Individual Tickets and Series Passes on Sale Now!
Headlining Authors Include:
Preet Bharara ∙ Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton ∙
Akbar Gbajabiamila ∙ Nikki R. Haley ∙ Jodi Kantor ∙ Adam Rippon ∙
Bari Weiss ∙ Henry Winkler ∙ and many more!
Local Authors Include:
Perry Brickman ∙ Zoe Fishman ∙ Sherry Frank ∙ Lynn Garson ∙ Andy Lipman ∙
Bev Saltzman Lewyn ∙ Pat Mitchell ∙ Brent Pease & Kyle Pease ∙
I.J. Rosenberg ∙ Robyn Spizman
(ATLANTA – September 18, 2019) – Calling all book lovers! From October 30 - November 18, 2019, the Book Festival of the MJCCA will celebrate 28 years of bringing culture and conversation to the greater Atlanta community. This year’s Book Festival repertoire of 45+ authors has something to offer all festival-goers. More than 13,000 people from across the Southeast will come to engage with and listen to their favorite local, national, and international authors. All events will be held at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA), 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody.
Purchase Tickets/More Info: Purchase tickets for each individual event, or, for a better value, purchase a series pass for access to most of our November events. Some events are free. Call the MJCCA Box Office at 678.812.4002, email bookfestival@atlantajcc.org, or visit us online at atlantajcc.org/bookfestival. Tickets are now on sale for all events.
Book Festival of the MJCCA Co-Chairs
“We are thrilled about this year’s lineup,” said Book Festival Co-Chair Deena Profis. “The 28th Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA features everyone from acclaimed actors and renowned political figures; to historians and award-winning novelists; to authors presenting award-winning cookbooks and riveting memoirs. We truly have something for everyone.”
“Included in our exciting lineup are some of Atlanta’s best local authors presenting their work,” explained Book Festival Co-Chair Susie Hyman. “Additionally, I am thrilled that we will bring back our ‘In Conversation’ interviews between authors and local journalists; as well as various events with book clubs from throughout the city.”
Complete Author Lineup (Oct. 30 – Nov. 18, 2019):
- Wednesday, October 30, 7:30 pm - (Member/Community $15-$75)
Opening Night
In Conversation with Holly Firfer, CNN Journalist
From the New York Times bestselling authors Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver comes a new, out-of-this-world middle-grade series about a space alien who visits Hollywood as a tourist and becomes a star!
Henry Winkler is an Emmy Award-winning actor, writer, director, and producer who has created some of the most iconic TV roles, including the Fonz in Happy Days and Gene Cousineau in Barry.
Lin Oliver is a children’s book writer and a writer and producer for both TV and film. She is currently the executive director of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. They both live in Los Angeles.
- Saturday, November 2, 8:00 pm - (Member $18* / Community $25*)
BEN MEZRICH, Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption
In Conversation with Nadia Bilchik, CNN Editorial Producer and Bestselling Author
From Ben Mezrich, the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House, comes Bitcoin Billionaires—the fascinating story of brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss's big bet on cryptocurrency and its dazzling pay-off.
Ben Mezrich's 2009 bestseller The Accidental Billionaires is the definitive account of Facebook's founding and the basis for the Academy Award–winning film The Social Network. Two of the story's iconic characters are Harvard students Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss: identical twins, Olympic rowers, and foils to Mark Zuckerberg. Bitcoin Billionaires is the story of the brothers’ redemption and revenge in the wake of their epic legal battle with Facebook.
- Sunday, November 3, 12:00 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Dr. Catherine M. Lewis, Professor of History, Kennesaw State University
The Volunteer is the incredible true story of a Polish resistance fighter’s infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from within, and his death-defying attempt to warn the Allies about Nazi plans for a “Final Solution” before it was too late.
After learning about Nazi persecution of his family, Herschel Grynszpan, an impoverished 17-year-old Jew living in Paris, went to the German Embassy and shot the first German diplomat he saw. Hitler and Joseph Goebbels made the diplomat’s death their pretext for the state-sponsored wave of anti-Semitic terror known as Kristallnacht. Overnight, Grynszpan was front-page news and a pawn in a global power struggle.
Sunday, November 3, 3:30 pm - (Member/Community: $10-$75)
In Conversation with Mara Davis, Local Media Personality
Each week, six million Americans tune in to the Emmy-nominated hit show American Ninja Warrior (ANW) to watch everyday people take on extraordinary obstacles. ANW’s beloved co-host Akbar Gbajabiamila knows all about tackling obstacles. The son of Nigerian immigrants, he is one of seven siblings who grew up in South Central Los Angeles at the height of the L.A. riots. In his new book, Everyone Can Be a Ninja, Gbajabiamila draws inspiration from both the fierce competitors on his show and his own unlikely path to success to outline what it takes to become a modern-day ninja. Member/Com: $35–75
Sunday, November 3, 7:30 pm – (Member/Community: $35-75, Includes one hardcover copy of the book.)
In Conversation with Holly Firfer, CNN Journalist
If your mom told you “it’s what on the inside that counts,” then she probably was never a competitive figure skater. Olympic bronze medalist, Adam Rippon, has been making it pretty for the judges even when everything was an absolute mess below the surface.
From taking a bus with ex-convicts to being so poor he could only afford to eat the free apples at his gym, Rippon got through the toughest times with a smile on his face and glint in his eye. Beautiful on the Outside looks at his journey from being a home-schooled kid in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to becoming an Olympic athlete, Dancing with the Stars champion, LGBTQ activist, and Dancing with the Stars: Junior judge. It may be what’s on the inside that counts, but life is so much better when it’s beautiful on the outside.
Monday, November 4, 12:00 pm – (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
In Conversation with Victoria Comella, Freelance Writer
From the author of the multi-million copy bestseller, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, comes a new novel based on an incredible true story of love and resilience. In 1942, Cilka is just 16 years old when she is taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, where the commandant immediately notices how beautiful she is. Forcibly separated from the other female prisoners, Cilka learns quickly that power equals survival. When the war is over and the camp is liberated, freedom is not granted to Cilka: She is charged as a collaborator for sleeping with the enemy and sent to a Siberian prison camp. But did she really have a choice? Where do the lines of morality lie for Cilka?
- Monday, November 4, 7:30 pm – (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
JULIE SALAMON, An Innocent Bystander: The Killing of Leon Klinghoffer
In Conversation with Gail Evans, Former EVP, CNN; Bestselling Author
In October 1985, Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled Jewish New Yorker, boarded the Achille Lauro with his wife to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary. Four days later, four Palestinian fedayeen hijacked the ship and took the passengers and crew hostage. Klinghoffer was shot in the head, his body and wheelchair thrown overboard. His murder became a flashpoint in the struggle between Israelis and Arabs, giving Americans a horrifying preview of terrorism hitting home. This geopolitical thriller is filled with the tension wrought by terrorism and its repercussions today.
- Tuesday, November 5, 12:00 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Lisa Shore, Bestselling Author
Sylvie Snow knows the pressures of expectations. A woman is supposed to work hard, but never be tired; age gracefully, but always be beautiful; fix the family problems, but always be carefree. Sylvie does the grocery shopping, laundry, scheduling, schlepping, and the PTA-ing, while planning her son’s bar mitzvah and cheerfully tending to her
her husband, Paul, who’s been lying on the sofa with a broken ankle. She’s also secretly addicted to her husband’s Oxycontin. She tells herself the pills are temporary, just a gift, and that she’ll go back to her regularly scheduled programming when the supply runs out. But days turn into weeks, and Sylvie slips slowly into a nightmare. As the bar mitzvah nears, the family must face the void within themselves.
Kerrie O’Malley, jobless and in an unfulfilling relationship, knows the exact moment when her life veered off course—the night she was irrevocably wronged by someone she looked up to. When Kerrie sees the woman who destroyed her life on television 18 years later, a fire ignites inside her. The stakes are high. The risks are perilous.
But she’ll stop at nothing to achieve the retribution she deserves. Jordana Pierson appears to have it all: wealth, glamour, a handsome husband, and a thriving wedding concierge business. Her record is spotless. Her business is flourishing. No one knows the truth about her and the dark shadows of her past. No one, that is, except Kerrie. Pretty Revenge is a riveting novel bursting with twists, turns, and suspenseful exploration of how far someone will go for vengeance.
- Tuesday, November 5, 7:30 pm – (Member: $18 / Community: $25)
In Conversation with Kim Severson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Bureau Chief, Atlanta
From Jodi Kantor, one of the two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters who broke the news of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment and abuse for the New York Times, comes the thrilling untold story of their investigation and its consequences for the #MeToo movement.
Within days after their initial Weinstein story was published in the New York Times, a veritable Pandora’s box of sexual harassment and abuse claims was opened. Women all over the world came forward with their own traumatic stories about the prominent Hollywood producer. She Said tells a thrilling story about the power of truth, with shocking new information from hidden sources. Kantor and Twohey describe the consequences reporting for the #MeToo movement and journeys of the women who spoke up—for the sake of other women, for future generations, and for themselves.
- Wednesday, November 6, 12:00 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
In Conversation with Gail Evans, Former EVP, CNN; Bestselling Author
One Program, Two Authors
On a late summer day in 2006, Perry Brickman and his wife attended an exhibit on the history of Jewish life at Emory University and were astonished to come face-to-face with documents suggesting Brickman and many others failed out of Emory’s dental school because they were Jewish. They embarked on a path to uncover the truth.
Despite resistance, Brickman was determined to continue extracting evidence hidden in archives. After five years of identifying, interviewing, and recording the victims, Brickman was finally permitted to present his documentary to Emory officials and ask for redemption for the stain they had made. As a result, he was presented with the Emory University Maker of History Award for his journalistic excellence in exposing a long history of anti-Semitism in the Emory University dental school.
- SHERRY FRANK, A Passion to Serve: Memoirs of a Jewish Activist
Sherry Frank’s fascinating memoir relates the compelling stories from her more than 50 years as a community activist and Jewish board member in Atlanta. The former Southeastern Area Director for the American Jewish Committee has partnered with some of Atlanta’s most influential politicians and city leaders to build bridges of understanding across race and religion. She has been involved in combating all forms of discrimination, preserving Atlanta’s Jewish history, and building support for Israel. Here, she shares her own spiritual journey and expression of her proud Jewish identity. Through it all, she has been an active feminist and a champion for civil and human rights and equality for all. This is her story.
- Wednesday, November 6, 7:30 pm – (Member: $18 / Community: $25)
Raised on a cotton farm in small town, Georgia with no money or connections, Pat Mitchell grew to become a consummate media game-changer. She was the first female president of PBS and of CNN productions and a visionary, award-winning TV and film producer, fully engaged on the front lines of cultural change. What makes Mitchell dangerous is her lifelong insistence on redefining power on her terms, and in leveraging that power to manifest a better world.
In Becoming a Dangerous Woman, she shares her unprecedented rise in media and global affairs. Mitchell takes us on a lively journey, sharing intimate anecdotes about navigating the power paradigms of Washington, DC and Hollywood, traveling to war zones, pressing Fidel Castro to make a historic admission about the Cold War, and matching wits with Ted Turner. E
- Thursday, November 7, 10:00 am - (Free and Open to the Community)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Rabbi Brian Glusman, MJCCA
When Lynn Garson’s marriage ended in divorce, she refused to give up on love, romance, and “happily ever after.” Her quest to find Mr. Right led her from blind dates to dating apps, from drinks at the Buckhead Ritz Carlton to finding silverfish in a boyfriend’s guest bed (she has the video evidence to prove it). Lynn recounts her experiences in the modern dating scene with honesty and humor. Through the ups and downs of her dating adventures, she never loses her manners, her wit, or her optimism. For anyone who’s ever been on a bad date but still believes in true love, you’ll find a kindred spirit in Lynn Garson. Her hilarious memoir is what happens when Sex and the City meets Grace and Frankie! On
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Loving Out Loud (LOL) is a little book with a big message: you have the power to make a positive impact on someone’s day, every day, and it isn’t nearly as hard as you think. Robyn Spizman, an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and veteran media personality, has spent her career finding ways to make others happy with gifts and actions. Observing how the smallest compliment or remark of appreciation can transform an awkward moment into one of connection and joy, she set out to let others know we are paying attention, we care, and we appreciate them. With LOL snapshots and LOL daily suggestions in numerous categories, Loving Out Loud is poised to inspire a movement toward a kinder, more engaged community.
- Thursday, November 7, 12:30 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
One Program, Two Authors
Although many books and literary analyses have been written about Anne Frank’s life and diary, none have explored the surprising global influence her story had on shaping the moral framework of young people. In this fascinating study, Gillian Walnes Perry explores the various legacies of Anne Frank’s influence, which was sparked by the Amsterdam Ann Frank House’s traveling exhibition, viewed by more than 9 million people. Global icons such as Nelson Mandela and Audrey Hepburn modeled the influence that Anne Frank had on shaping their own lives. Walnes Perry shares new insights into the real Anne Frank, from those who actually knew her.
Meg Waite Clayton conjures her best novel yet with a pre-World War II story centering on the Kindertransports that carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied Europe and one brave woman who helped them escape. In 1936, the Nazis are loud, brutish bores to 15-year-old Stephan Neuman, the son of a wealthy and influential Jewish family and his best friend, Žofie-Helene, a Christian girl whose mother edits a progressive, anti-Nazi newspaper. But the two adolescents’ carefree innocence is shattered when the Nazis take control. There is hope when a member of the Dutch resistance risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany. It is a mission that becomes even more dangerous after Hitler’s annexation of Austria, when European countries closed their borders to the growing number of refugees desperate to escape.
- Thursday, November 7, 6:30 pm - (Free and open to all)
Kristallnacht Commemoration at the Besser Memorial Holocaust Garden
The program features Guest Speaker Gillian Walnes Perry, Co-Founder and Honorary Vice President, Anne Frank Trust UK. Please join Marlene and Abe Besser and Rabbi Brian Glusman at the Besser Holocaust Memorial Garden as we light the torches and pay tribute to those who lost their lives during one of the most horrific nights in Jewish history.
- Thursday, November 7, 7:30 pm - (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Dr. Catherine M. Lewis, Professor of History, Kennesaw State University
In early 1939, 15-year-old Renia Spiegel wrote the first entry in her diary. Like Anne Frank, Renia’s diary became a record of her daily life as the Nazis spread throughout Europe. With poignant and thoughtful poetry, she writes of her mundane school life in Poland, daily drama with friends, falling in love with her boyfriend Zygmund, and the agony of missing her mother, separated by bombs and invading armies. When Renia was sent to the ghetto, Zygmund is able to smuggle her out to hide with his parents. The diary ends in July 1942, with an entry by Zygmund after Renia is murdered by the Gestapo. Renia’s Diary includes a preface, afterword, and notes by her surviving sister, Elizabeth Bellak. With this extraordinary historical document, Renia Spiegel survives through the beauty of her words and the efforts of those who loved her and preserved her legacy.
Berlin, 1942. The Gestapo arrested Bert Lewyn (Bev's father-in-law) and his parents, sending the latter to their deaths and Bert to work in a factory making guns for the Nazi war effort. Bert goes underground and finds shelter with compassionate civilians, people who find his skills useful, and in cellars of bombed-out buildings. Without proper identity papers, he survives as a hunted Jew in the flames and terror of Nazi Berlin in part by successfully mimicking non-Jews, even masquerading as an SS officer. But the Gestapo are hot on his trail. Before World War II, 160,000 Jews lived in Berlin. By 1945, only 3,000 remained alive. Bert was one of the few, and his thrilling memoir offers an unparalleled depiction of the life of a runaway Jew caught in the heart of the Nazi empire.
- Friday, November 8, 12:00 pm – (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
A designer, raconteur, author, model, and legendary New York style icon-about-town, Tziporah (Tzippy) has been the favorite subject of acclaimed photographers and artists. Tzippy has spent a lifetime collecting remarkable clothes, hats, and accessories, assembling them into outfits she shares with the world from the seat of the shiny bike she rides all over Manhattan. In her award-winning one-woman stage show, Tzippy tells the remarkable story of her parents, Hungarian Jews who survived the Holocaust and fled to Israel, then New York. The performance showcases her legendary wardrobe of rare vintage and designer clothes that helped Tzippy find her way into many aspects of the fashion and style industries.er copy of the book.)
- Saturday, November 9, 8:00 pm – (Member/Community: $36, Includes one hardcover copy of the book.)
In Conversation with Bill Nigut, Executive Producer, Political Rewind, Georgia Public Broadcasting
Former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, gives an important overview of the way our justice system works, and why the rule of law is essential to our society in his book, Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law. Using case histories and personal experiences, Bharara shows the thought process required to best achieve truth and justice in our society. Bharara uses anecdotes to illustrate the realities of the legal system, and the consequences of both action and inaction.
- Sunday, November 10, 12:00 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
In No Surrender, Chris Edmonds tells the unforgettable and inspiring story of his father, Roddie Edmonds, a humble American soldier from Tennessee. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge in the waning days of WWII, Roddie became the highest-ranking American soldier at a Nazi POW camp.
Faced with an order to have the camp’s Jewish prisoners present themselves at a morning roll-call, Roddie instead ordered every one of the 1,292 prisoners to form up in front of their barracks. “We are all Jews here,” he told the German major, who responded by pressing the barrel of his Luger to Roddie’s forehead, threatening to shoot him on the spot. The officer backed down when Roddie warned him, “You’ll have to shoot all of us.” More than 70 years later, this act of courage earned him Yad Vashem’s Righteous Among the Nations from the State of Israel, the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the Congressional Gold Medal.
- Sunday, November 10, 3:30 pm – (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
In Conversation with Greg Changnon, Playwright and Former Columnist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Berlin, Hanni Kohn must send her 12-year-old daughter, Lea away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, where his daughter, Ettie, offers hope of salvation by creating a mystical Jewish creature named Ava, who is sworn to protect Lea. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never ending.
- Sunday, November 10, 7:30 pm – (Member/Community: $35, Includes one hardcover copy of the book.)
JON DORENBOS, Life is Magic: My Inspiring Journey from Tragedy to Self-Discovery
In Conversation with Tom Sullivan, TV Host and Emcee
You might recognize him as an NFL All-Pro or as an elite magician who made the finals of America’s Got Talent and regularly appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. But Jon Dorenbos says that what he does is not who he is. He is someone forced, at 12 years old, to turn tragedy to triumph. In August 1992, Jon went to camp before he heard the news: his father had murdered his mother in the family’s garage. In an instant, his life had shattered. He was an orphan, thrust into foster care.
Jon struggled, but he discovered an unlikely escape performing magic tricks. Then came football, which provided a release for all his pent-up anger. Magic and football saved him, leading to 14 NFL seasons on the gridiron and raucous sleight-of-hand performances to packed houses across the globe. In 2017, after being traded to the New Orleans Saints, Jon was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition. He had a choice: break down or bounce back. In Life Is Magic, Dorenbos tells a poignant and powerful story as a charismatic and optimistic man who has overcome life-or-death challenges with grace, persistence, a childlike sense of wonder... and jaw-dropping card tricks.
- Monday, November 11, 12:00 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Kate Whitman, Vice President of Author and Family Programs, Atlanta History Center
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator’s Wife and The Swans of Fifth Avenue, comes this captivating new novel based on the true story of the extraordinary American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II. Blanche Auzello and her husband, Claude are the mistress and master of the Hôtel Ritz in Paris. The glamour and glitz take their minds off their troubled marriage—until June 1940, when the German army sweeps into Paris, setting up headquarters at the Ritz. With the likes of Hermann Goëring moving into suites once occupied by royalty, Blanche and Claude must spin a web of deceit to survive—and try to strike a blow against their Nazi guests. But one secret shared between Blanche and Claude threatens to imperil both of their lives and to bring down the legendary Ritz.
Things had never been easy between Ava Fisher and her estranged mother, Ilse. Too many questions hovered between them: Who was Ava’s father? Where had Ilse been during the war? Why had she left her only child in a German orphanage during the war’s final months? But now Ilse’s ashes have arrived from Germany, and with them, a trove of unsent letters addressed to Renate Bauer, a childhood friend if Ilse. As her mother’s letters unfurl a dark past, Ava spirals deep into the shocking history of her mother’s involvement in the Hitler Youth movement. Then the Nuremburg Laws force Renate to confront a long-buried past, and a catastrophic betrayal is set in motion. An unflinching exploration of Nazi Germany and its legacy, Wunderland is a powerful portrait of an unspeakable crime and a page-turning contemplation of womanhood, wartime, and just how far we might go in order to belong.
- Monday, November 11, 7:30 pm - (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
One Program, Two Authors
- JULIE SATOW, The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel
From the moment in 1907 when New York millionaire Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt became the Plaza Hotel’s first guest, to the afternoon in 2007 when a mysterious Russian oligarch paid a record price for the hotel’s largest penthouse, the 18-story hotel radiated wealth and luxury. But the true stories captured in The Plaza also include dark, hidden secrets, including the coldblooded murder perpetrated by construction workers in charge of building the hotel and how Donald J. Trump came to be the only owner to ever bankrupt the Plaza. In this definitive history, award-winning journalist Julie Satow pulls back the curtain on one vaunted New York City address that has become synonymous with wealth, scandal, opportunity, and tragedy. With glamour on the surface and strife behind the scenes, the hotel became a reflection of New York’s place at the center of the country’s cultural narrative.
- SHAWN LEVY, The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont
For 90 years, Hollywood’s brightest stars have favored the Chateau Marmont as a home away from home. It has been the backdrop for generations of gossip and folklore: 1930s bombshell Jean Harlow took lovers during her third honeymoon there; director Nicholas Ray slept with his 16-year-old Rebel Without a Cause star Natalie Wood; Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter met poolside and began a secret affair; John Belushi suffered a fatal overdose in a private bungalow; and Lindsay Lohan got the boot after racking up nearly $50,000 in charges in less than two months. With wit and insight, Shawn Levy recounts the wild revelries and scandalous liaisons, the creative breakthroughs and marital breakdowns, the births and deaths that the chateau has been a party to. Vivid, salacious, and richly informed, Levy’s book is a glittering tribute to Hollywood as seen from inside the walls of its most hallowed hotel.
- Tuesday, November 12, 12:00 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Jessica Handler, New York Times Bestselling Author
In her much-anticipated novel, New York Times bestselling author of Bee Season, Myla Goldberg, tells a compelling story about a photographer grappling with ambition and motherhood, a balancing act familiar to women of every generation. Feast Your Eyes, framed as the catalogue notes from a photography show at the Museum of Modern Art, tells the life story of Lillian Preston. After discovering photography as a teenager, Lillian rejects her parents’ expectations of college and marriage and moves to New York City in 1955. When a small gallery exhibits partially nude photographs of Lillian and her daughter, Lillian is arrested, thrust into the national spotlight, and targeted with an obscenity charge. Their sudden notoriety changes the course of the mother and daughter’s lives and Lillian’s career as she continues a lifelong quest for artistic legitimacy and recognition.
It’s Sophie Bloom’s 42nd birthday, and she’s ready for a night of celebration with Gabe, her longtime, devoted husband, and their friends. Dinner is served with a side of delicious gossip, including which North Grove residents were caught with their pants down on Ashley Madison after the secret online dating site for married and committed couples was hacked. Millions of cheaters were exposed—including Gabe. Humiliated, Sophie jumps into the unknown and flees to France to meet up with her teenage daughter who is studying abroad and nursing her own heartbreak. After a brief visit to Paris, Sophie heads out to the artist enclave of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. There, for the first time in a long time, Sophie acknowledges her own desires, and rediscovers her essence with painful honesty and humor, reawakening both her sensuality and ambitions as a sculptor.
- Tuesday, November 12, 7:30 pm - (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
In Conversation with Melissa Long, Journalist & Entrepreneur
Dive into this insightful, funny, and honest exploration of mother/daughter relationships by Dawn Hubsher and Cher Hubsher from the hit television series sMothered, on TLC! A Bond That Lasts Forever is a collection of hardearned wisdoms about how to create the mother/daughter relationship of your dreams.
Dawn and Cher have dedicated time and effort to strengthen their own unique bond while also bringing a fresh spin on what it takes to create a truly rewarding relationship. Daughters will get practical advice on everything from learning how to forgive and rebuild a relationship to communicating effectively despite the generation gap. Mothers will find guidance on how to achieve the delicate balance between being involved and ‘helicopter’ parenting, all while remaining a friend and confidant. The duo dishes secrets to cultivating a lifelong best mother-daughter friendship.
- Wednesday, November 13, 12:00 pm – (Member / Community: $25*)
EINAT ADMONY, Shuk: From Market to Table, the Heart of Israeli Home Cooking
In Conversation with Ligaya Figueras, Senior Editor, Food and Dining, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
*Kosher lunch featuring recipes from the book will be served. Seating is limited so please reserve your tickets early. This event is not included with the Series Pass or certain Patron levels.
In her expansive new cookbook, Einat Admony, acclaimed chef/owner of New York City’s popular Balaboosta, Kish-Kash, and Taim restaurants, captures the energy and spirit of the shuks and the deliciousness of the recipes that reveal why Israeli cuisine has emerged as one of America’s most popular. Admony’s childhood spent in Tel Aviv and her Middle Eastern heritage inform each authentic dish, from Persian rice platters and Moroccan tagines to Levantine spreads and the rare, hand-rolled couscous of North Africa. These recipes appeal to those looking to recreate their favorite dishes at home and the gorgeous photos, informative headnotes, and market profiles will fascinate anyone who values the context of cultural history.
- Wednesday, November 13, 7:30 pm – (Member: $15 / Community: $20)
Bob Mankoff, cartoon and humor editor for Esquire and former New Yorker cartoon editor, wowed Book Festival audiences with his memoir, How About Never… Is Never Good for You? He returns to the Book Festival stage with his latest book, a curated collection of his favorite Jewish cartoons. In his foreword to this entertaining collection, Mankoff shows how his Jewish heritage helped him to become a successful cartoonist, examines the place of cartoons in the vibrant history of Jewish humor, and plumbs Jewish thought, wisdom, and schtick for humorous insights.
- Thursday, November 14, 10:00 am - (Free and Open to the Community)
One Program, Three Authors
Diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child, Kyle Pease had grown up supporting his athlete brothers, Brent and Evan, from the sidelines. While his condition limited his ability to play sports, it didn’t dampen Kyle’s passion for them, nor did it stop the Pease family from including Kyle in various excursions. From rolling his wheelchair in Yosemite National Park to zipping down Colorado snow slopes, there was never a dull moment with the Pease brothers. Where there was a wheel, there was a way to adventure. In this memoir that interweaves both their perspectives, Kyle and Brent recount the experiences that shaped the strength, tenacity, and undying bond that has resonated between them since childhood, culminating with participating in the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
Andy Lipman, an Atlantan who has lived with cystic fibrosis (CF) since birth, is walking proof that you can do anything you set your mind to. In his fourth book about CF, Andy chronicles the lives of 50 warriors living and fighting the disease. Their stories are tales of those who have beaten the odds by working hard to make their own dreams come true. Lipman also continues to dedicate his life to finding a cure for this terminal disease. He and his family founded the Wish for Wendy Foundation in memory of his older sister, who died from CF after only 16 days of life. As of 2019, the foundation has contributed more than $4 million to help raise awareness for CF and to fund research for a cure.
- Thursday, November 14, 12:30 pm - (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
One Program, Two Authors
In Conversation with Alison Law, Publicist and Consultant, Alison Law Communications; Host, Literary Atlanta Podcast
Kitty Milton and her husband are both from families considered the backbone of the country. While they summer on their island in Maine, anchored as they are to the way things have always been, the winds of change are beginning to stir. In 1959 New York City, two strangers enter the Miltons’ circle. One captures the attention of Kitty’s daughter, Evie, while the other makes each of them question what the family stands for. In present day, Evie doesn’t have enough money to keep the island in Maine. When her mother dies, Evie digs into her family history, finding a story as unsettling as it is inescapable, threatening the foundation of the Milton family myth. Moving through three generations and back and forth in time, The Guest Book asks how we remember and what we choose to forget. It shows the untold secrets we inherit and pass on, unknowingly echoing our parents and grandparents.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost comes a tender and moving novel about a woman at a crossroads, caught between the love of two men. Nina Gregory has always been a good daughter. Raised by her father, owner of New York City’s glamorous Gregory Hotels, Nina was taught that family, reputation, and legacy are what matter most. And Tim—her devoted boyfriend and best friend since childhood—feels the same. But when Nina’s father dies, he leaves behind a secret that shocks Nina to her core. As her world falls apart, Nina begins to see the men in her life in a new light. Soon Nina finds herself caught between the world she loves and a passion that could upend everything.
- Thursday, November 14, 7:30 pm – (Member: $18 / Community: $25)
In Conversation with Rabbi Brian Glusman, MJCCA
Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of 18th century Eastern Europe, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. He was the first son in a dynastic rabbinical family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews.
But Abby felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. Without access to TV or the
internet, and never taught to speak English, she suppressed her desire for a new body while looking for answers. Finally, she orchestrated a personal exodus from ultra-Orthodox manhood to mainstream femininity-a radical choice that forced her to leave her home, her family, her way of life. Becoming Eve is a powerful coming out story about an unexpected outspoken voice for gender freedom.
- Friday, November 15, 12:00 pm - (*Member: $15 / Community: $20)
One Program, Two Authors
*Guests will enjoy popcorn, cotton candy, and other tasty treats!
In Conversation with Jimmy Baron, Former Atlanta Radio Personality
In Drive-Thru Dreams, Adam Chandler explores the inseparable link between fast food and American life for the past century. The dark underbelly of the industry’s largest players has long been scrutinized and gutted. But, in unexpected ways, fast food is also deeply personal and emblematic of a larger-than-life image of America. With wit and nuance, Chandler reveals the complexities of this industry through heartfelt anecdotes and fascinating trivia as well as interviews with fans, executives, and workers.
Step right up! The Amusement Park is a rich, anecdotal history beginning 900 years ago with the pleasure gardens of Europe and ends with the most elaborate modern parks in the world. This is a full-throttle celebration of the rides—marvels of engineering and heart-stopping thrills. Experience the electrifying story of amusement parks and meet the colorful, sometimes criminal, characters responsible for their enchanting charms.
- Saturday, November 16, 8:00 pm – (Member/Community: $30, Includes one hardcover copy of the book.)
In Conversation with Dana Barrett, Local Media Personality
On October 27, 2018, the synagogue where New York Times writer and editor Bari Weiss became a bat mitzvah was the site of the deadliest attack on Jews in America’s history. The massacre at Tree of Life in Pittsburgh came as a total shock. But to those who have been paying attention, it was only a more violent, extreme expression of the broader trend that has been sweeping Europe for the past two decades. Anti-Semitism finds a home in the renewal of “America first” isolationism and the rise of one-world socialism.
An ancient hatred increasingly allowed into modern political discussion, anti-Semitism has been migrating toward the mainstream in dangerous ways, amplified by social media and a threatening culture of conspiracy. This timely book is an unnerving reminder that Jews must never lose their hard won instinct for danger, and a powerful case for renewing Jewish and liberal values to guide us through uncertainty. Not just for the sake of America’s Jews, but for the sake of America.
- Sunday, November 17, 12:00 pm – (Free and Open to the Community)
A forgotten, dark chapter of American history with implications for the current day, The Guarded Gate tells the story of the scientists who argued that certain nationalities were inherently inferior, providing the intellectual justification for the harshest immigration law in American history.
These upper-class eugenic arguments helped keep hundreds of thousands of Jews, Italians, and other unwanted groups out of the US for more than 40 years. This book is the complete story from the anti-immigrant campaign beginning in 1895. Okrent brings to life the rich cast of characters from this time. The Guarded Gate is an important, insightful tale that painstakingly connects the American eugenicists to the rise of Nazism and shows how their beliefs found fertile soil in the minds of citizens and leaders both here and abroad.
- Sunday, November 17, 3:30 pm – (Member: $10 / Community: $15)
I.J. ROSENBERG, Conquered: The Inside Story of Atlanta United’s Magical Run
With Darren Eales, President, Atlanta United Soccer Club
In Conversation with Ashley Rose, Sports Broadcast Journalist
Conquered takes an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the Atlanta United Soccer Club’s roller-coaster journey to the top of Major League Soccer. Told in vivid detail by longtime Atlanta sports writer I.J. Rosenberg, alongside the stunning photography of the Atlanta United staff, this is the story of the boys in red, black, and gold who captured the heart of a city and took the soccer world by storm.
Get inside the minds of Arthur Blank, Darren Eales, Carlos Bocanegra, and so many others who played a part in turning the dream of a top tier soccer franchise in the South into reality as they share what went into the process—from the hiring of key personnel to the creation of the Five Stripes brand—and all the challenges and milestones along the way.
- Sunday, November 17, 7:30 pm – (Member / Community: $45, Includes one hardcover copy of the book. Ambassador Haley will not be signing books this evening, and books will not be pre-signed.)
A revealing, dramatic, deeply personal book about the most significant events of our time, written by the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Nikki R. Haley is widely admired for her forthright manner (“With all due respect, I don’t get confused”), her sensitive approach to tragic events, and her confident representation of America’s interests as our Ambassador to the United Nations during times of crisis and consequence. In this book, Haley offers a first-hand perspective on major national and international matters, as well as a behind-the-scenes account of her tenure in the Trump administration. This book reveals a woman who can hold her own—and better—in domestic and international power politics, a diplomat who is unafraid to take a principled stand even when it is unpopular, and a leader who seeks to bring Americans together in divisive times.
Nikki R. Haley served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 through 2019. She previously served as Governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017. She and her husband, Michael, an entrepreneur and combat veteran in the South Carolina Army National Guard, have two children.
- Monday, November 18, 6:30 pm – (Member / Community: $45, Includes one hardcover copy of the book. Secretary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will not be signing books this evening, and books will not be pre-signed.)
In Conversation with Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, President and Dean, Morehouse School of Medicine
Join Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton as they celebrate the women who have inspired them throughout their lives. The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience is the first book that Secretary Clinton and Chelsea have written together, and they are excited to welcome readers into a conversation they began having when Chelsea was a little girl. Join them as they discuss the women throughout history who have had the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done.
Inspired by women whose tenacity blazed the trail, the two global leaders lay out a vision for how these stories of persistence can galvanize women and men, boys and girls around the world. There’s Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist whose Asperger’s syndrome has shaped her advocacy. Civil rights activist Dorothy Height, LGBTQ trailblazer Edie Windsor, and swimmer Diana Nyad, who each kept pushing forward, no matter what. Writers like Rachel Carson and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, historian Mary Beard, who used wit to open doors that were once closed, and activists like Harriet Tubman and Malala Yousafzai, who looked fear in the face and persevered. And so many more.
This groundbreaking celebration of gutsiness is a call to action – not just for women, but for all of us, especially now. The authors write, “Ensuring the rights, opportunities, and full participation of women and girls remains a big piece of unfinished business of the twenty-first century. Finishing it is going to take all of us standing shoulder to shoulder, across the generations, across genders. This is not a moment for anyone to leave the fight, or sit on the sidelines, waiting for the perfect moment to join.”
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first woman in US history to become the presidential nominee of a major political party. She served as the 67th Secretary of State after nearly four decades in public service advocating on behalf of children and families as an attorney, First Lady, and US Senator. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother.
Chelsea Clinton is a champion for girls and women through her advocacy, writing, and work at the Clinton Foundation. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She lives in New York City with her husband, their children, and their dog.
Contact Information for the 28th Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA:
- Program Inquiries: Pam Morton, Book Festival Director, 678.812.3981
