Detroit Jewish Book Fair’s Yearlong Festival Gears Up with November Festival Week

on Oct 27, 2021

The 70th anniversary of the JCC of Metro Detroit’s Jewish Book Fair kicks off in November with its biggest and most ambitious installment yet. The fair will be celebrating with programming the entire year: “70 stories for 70 years,” with the goal of holding 70 events in that time frame.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun, a little crazy for us, but I think it’s going to be great,” said Jaemi Loeb, senior director of Cultural Arts at the JCC of Metro Detroit.

Every year, the Jewish Book Fair highlights diverse authors, curates new Jewish writing and promotes the global art of Jewish storytelling.

The fair begins with November Festival Week (Nov. 6-14). The festival in November will be 100% virtual.

More events are being planned through spring and summer 2022 and more events will be added as time goes on, with a mix of virtual and in-person settings. In-person events starting next spring will also be available virtually in a hybrid fashion.

Loeb says this year’s fair has a deliberately wide range of programming.

“We have everything from a panel at Comic Con to a mah jong event to books about the Holocaust, both fiction and nonfiction. There’s a little something for everyone.”

The panel did a deep dive into the history of Jews in comics and featured E. Lockhart, author of the new DC graphic novel Whistle, and Roy Schwartz, author of Is Superman Circumcised? The Complete Jewish History of the World’s Greatest Hero.

Events during November Festival Week include comedian and actor Wayne Federman discussing his new book, The History of Stand-Up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle, with local comedy legend Alan Muskovitz; an event with writer and producer Ira Rosen discussing his new book, Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes, with former Fox 2 News Anchor Sherry Margolis; an event with craft artist and educator Jodi Eichler-Levine discussing her new book, Painted Pomegranates and Needlepoint Rabbis: How Jews Craft Resilience and Create Community; and more.

“Every year, we try to bring people something new and different and really represent and support the rich diversity that is the Jewish world,” Loeb said. “Our programming this year is an attempt to do that. We’re always looking for the story that no one has heard before or the author that no one expected. That’s our underlying impetus.”

All announced events are free except for two events: November Festival Week’s opening night event with Josh Malerman, bestselling author of Bird Box and its new sequel Malorie, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.

Malerman and his band the High Strung will be featured in a live broadcast from the Berman for an evening filled with songs, stories about growing up at the JCC of Metro Detroit and an inside look into what happens when your book becomes a blockbuster movie. The streaming event on JWatch is $10 per viewer.

Also, on Saturday, Nov. 13, join Eddie Shapiro, author of A Wonderful Guy, tenor Josh Young and mezzo-sprano Alta Dantzler who will host an evening of live performances, stories and a celebration of the great men of Broadway broadcast live from the Berman. Also $10 per viewer.