Behind The Book

Behind the Book

an author series presented by

The Jewish Alliance is excited to present another great list of authors for this year’s Behind the Book series. We are continuing the tradition of connecting people with ideas, and with each other by presenting a wide range of speakers.

We are proud to welcome Kenneth Stern, Dara Kurtz, Mark Werner, Anna Solomon, Erica S. Perl, Meg Waite Clayton, Tiffany Shlain, Casey Breton, Merrill Markoe, Amy S.F. Lutz, Jill Ross Nadler, and Elisa Spungen Bildner and Robert Bildner We’ve got events for children and adults, touching on many aspects of Jewish communal life. We look forward to sharing these increadible stories and insights with you! If you have any questions, please email Lisa Maybruch at lmaybruch@jewishallianceri.org.

Please visit jewishallianceri.org/behind-the-book/ for additional information and links to event registration pages.

Our thanks to the following for making this series possible:

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate Kenneth S. Stern Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 Time: 7:00pm ET Register at tinyurl.com/ken-stern Synopsis: The Conflict over the Conflict chronicles one of the most divisive and toxic issues on today’s college and university campuses: Israel and Palestine. Some pro-Palestine students call supporters of Israel’s right to exist racist, and disrupt their events. Some pro-Israel students label proPalestine students terrorists, and the Jews among them traitors. Lawsuits are filed. Legislation is proposed. Faculty members are blacklisted and receive death threats. Academic freedom is compromised and the entire academic enterprise is threatened. How did we get here, and what can be done? In this passionate book, Kenneth S. Stern examines attempts from each side to censor the other at a time when some say students are being quarantined from, rather than challenged to wrestle with, difficult ideas.

Author Bio: Kenneth S. Stern is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and an attorney and award-winning author. For twenty-five years, he was the American Jewish Committee’s expert on antisemitism, and he was also the lead drafter of the “Working Definition of Antisemitism.” He has argued before the Supreme Court of the United States and testified before Congress, and he is a frequent guest on television and radio. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Forward.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

I Am My Mother’s Daughter Dara Kurtz Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/kurtz/ Synopsis: Dara Kurtz kept a Ziploc bag of letters written by her mother, who died from cancer when Dara was 28 years old. This bag also included letters written by her departed Jewish grandmothers. Fearing the sadness these letters might bring, Dara left the Ziploc bag buried in her home for decades. Dara often longed to ask her mother and grandmothers for their advice, especially when she, like her mother, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 42. Eventually, Dara opened the bag of letters and reread them.

They brought back beautiful family memories, taught her many life lessons about the love between mothers and daughters, and the wisdom passed on from one generation to the next. Dara passed down these family traditions to her two daughters, who carry on the legacy contained in the Ziploc bag.

Dara wanted to share this legacy and the lessons she learned in overcoming cancer with others.

Author Bio: After being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 42, Dara left her 20-year career as a personal banker and financial advisor to focus on a new career in writing, speaking, and podcasting. Today her personal blog, Crazy Perfect Life, reaches over 180,000 followers. Dara is the author of two books, Crush Cancer: Personal Enlightenment from a Cancer Survivor and Cancer Crush Workbook. Dara is a writer with one goal: to use her life experiences to help people strengthen their relationships and create more happiness and joy in their everyday lives.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

A Passion for Israel: Adventures of a Sar-el Volunteer Mark Werner Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2020 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/werner/ Synopsis: What would motivate a successful corporate lawyer to trade in his comfortable life in America for three weeks every year to volunteer for manual labor on Israeli military bases? Mark Werner, son of a Holocaust survivor, is an ardent Zionist seeking a personal way to show support for Israel. This book is based on journals he kept during 14 volunteer stints on Israeli military bases from 2006 to 2019. Werner describes what life is like on Israeli army bases for volunteers, starting with his own experiences – from working through a desert sandstorm, to dealing with a scorpion in his bunk, to taking refuge in a bomb shelter during a Palestinian missile attack.

Author Bio: A retired lawyer in Raleigh, North Carolina, this is Mark Werner’s third literary foray. He is the author of a previous book describing his first four volunteer experiences, Army Fatigues: Joining Israel’s Army of International Volunteers. He also edited his father’s Holocaust memoir, Fighting Back: A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in World War II by Harold Werner. Mark is currently the national president of Volunteers for Israel the organization that enables him and other Americans to serve as civilian volunteers on Israeli military bases.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

The Book of V. Anna Solomon

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2020 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/solomon/ Synopsis: The story of Esther is often told as the triumph of a Jewish minority over one man’s blinding hatred, through the courage and selflessness of one woman. Anna Solomon’s The Book of V. challenges this simple narrative — asking, what is Vashti’s story? And how do we choose to represent women’s lives, both in the past and today? The Book of V. offers new interpretations of the story of Esther, and criticizes the way in which it has been told for thousands of years.

Author Bio: Anna Solomon is the author of Leaving Lucy Pear and The Little Bride, and a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in publications including The New York Times Magazine, One Story, Ploughshares, Slate, and more. Coedited with Eleanor Henderson of Labor Day: True Birth Stories by Today’s Best Women Writers, Solomon was born and raised in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

A Jewish Alliance Virtual Book Club Choice

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

The Ninth Night of Hanukkah Erica S. Perl Date: Monday, December 14, 2020 Time: 4:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/perl/ Event Info: PJ Library and friends invite you to start a new tradition of celebrating Shamash Night, an extra night of Hanukkah with special guest, author Erica Pearl. She will delight us with an interactive storytelling of her new book, The Ninth Night of Hanukkah. Afterward, please enjoy crafts and learn how to host your own Shamash Night!

Synopsis: It’s Hanukkah, and Max and Rachel are excited to light the menorah in their family’s new apartment. But, unfortunately, their Hanukkah box is missing. So now they have no menorah, candles, dreidels, or, well, anything! Luckily, their neighbors are happy to help, offering thoughtful and often humorous stand-in items each night. And then, just as Hanukkah is about to end, Max and Rachel, inspired by the shamash (“helper”) candle, have a brilliant idea: they’re going to celebrate the ninth night of Hanukkah as a way to say thanks to everyone who’s helped them!

Author Bio: Erica S. Perl is well-known for writing books for young readers, including Chicken Butt!, Goat-ilocks and the Three Bears, and Ferocious Fluffity. She has received the National Jewish Book Award, the Sydney Taylor Silver Medal, and a Sydney Taylor Notable. Erica is a crowd-pleasing presenter at schools, libraries, and community events and lives in Washington, DC with her family.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

The Last Train to London Meg Waite Clayton Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2021 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/clayton/ Event Info: Author Meg Waite Clayton will present her book and answer questions during a live, visual presentation and will be joined by a Holocaust survivor to discuss her real life experiences.

Synopsis: Clayton’s novel is based on the real Dutch resistance fighter, “Tante Truus” Wijsmuller, who brought more than 10,000 Jewish children to safety before and during WWII in the Kindertransport. Clayton’s enlightening, meticulously researched novel is enriched by a compelling cast of fictional characters. Stephan Neuman, son of a Jewish businessman in Austria, is a budding playwright at 17; his good friend, Zofie-Helene, is a math whiz.

In chapters alternating with those describing Tante Truus’ dangerous trips between Austria and the Netherlands, Clayton relates the struggles faced by the young pair. This is a standout historical fiction that serves as a chilling reminder of how insidious, pervasive evil can gradually seep into everyday lives.

Author Bio: Meg Waite Clayton’s National Jewish Book Award finalist The Last Train to London is a national bestseller in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

Her screenplay for the novel was chosen for the prestigious Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman, sponsored by The Writers Lab. Meg’s novels include the Langum Prize-honored The Race for Paris and The Wednesday Sisters, an Entertainment Weekly 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, she has published some 100 short pieces in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, and Runners World.

A Jewish Alliance Virtual Book Club Choice

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

24/6: Giving Up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection Tiffany Shlain Date: Thursday, February 4, 2021 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/shlain/ Synopsis: In 24/6, Tiffany Shlain explains how turning off screens one day a week can work wonders on your brain, body and soul. Internet pioneer and renowned filmmaker Tiffany Shlain takes us on a provocative and entertaining journey through time and technology, introducing a strategy for living in our 24/7 world: turning off all screens for twenty-four hours each week. This practice, which she’s done for nearly a decade with her husband and kids, has completely changed their lives, giving them more time, productivity, connection, and presence. She and her family call it “Technology Shabbat.”

Drawn from the ancient ritual of Shabbat, living 24/6 can work for anyone from any background. With humor and wisdom, Shlain shares her story, offers lessons she has learned, and provides a blueprint for how to do it yourself.

Author Bio: Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of The Webby Awards. Shlain’s films and work have received over 80 awards and distinctions, including being selected for the Albert Einstein Foundation’s Genius: 100 Visions of the Future. NPR named her UC Berkeley address as one of its best commencement speeches and her films have premiered at top festivals, including Sundance. She lectures world-wide on the relationship between technology and humanity.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

Going Rogue (At Hebrew School) Casey Breton Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2021 Time: 5:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/breton/ Synopsis: Ten-year-old Avery Green has always hated Hebrew school. And why shouldn’t he? Not only does it mean he has to spend extra time inside of a classroom, but also Hebrew school has absolutely nothing to do with his three most favorite things in the universe: Star Wars, science, and football.

But everything turns upside down the day Avery begins to suspect that the mysterious new rabbi just might happen to be…an actual Jedi master! Armed with nothing more than a curious mind and an endless supply of questions, Avery sets out to reveal the truth about Rabbi Bob. Join Avery – and a funny cast of characters including a Hungarian pirate grandfather, the number one klutz in the world, and an evil Sith boy – as he finds friendship in the most unlikely of places and discovers that people are not always as they first appear.

Author Bio: Casey Breton is a former teacher, a recipient of the PJ Our Way Author Incentive Award, and current Storyteller-in-Residence for Fish Tales, a local live storytelling event for grown-ups. She lives in Gloucester, MA. As a parent of three children, she has extensive experience answering the question, “Why do we have to go to Hebrew school?” She hopes this helps.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe Merrill Markoe Date: Thursday, February 18, 2021 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/markoe/ Synopsis: In her first ever graphic memoir, Merrill Markoe unearths and annotates the diaries she saved over the years to tell the story of how she went from a misfit in junior high and high school to a girl who realized that her secret power was her humor. As documented in her own diary pages, Markoe both illustrates those moments that felt so memorable to her as a young girl, and then interrogates her young self about her own questionable choices and the things she fixated on as significant moments, whether it was her supreme embarrassment over her gym uniform, the (in retrospect) antiSemitic boy she was determined to win over, or her imaginary love affair with John Lennon. Filled with Markoe’s own absurdist drawings and actual diary pages, this is a laugh out loud and honest account of her life, and only Merrill Markoe, an acclaimed comedy writer, could bring alive her cache of diaries in this unconventional way.

Author Bio: Merrill Markoe was the head writer for the original, The David Letterman Show, the live NBC morning show that was recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award. She shared in three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for her work on Late Night with David Letterman. She has written for television shows such as Newhart, Sex and the City, and Moonlighting and has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Time, New York Woman, and more. She is the author of four books of essays and four novels.

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

We Walk: Life with Severe Autism Amy S.F. Lutz Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/lutz/ Synopsis: Amy S.F. Lutz combines personal narrative, interviews, and research in philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, disability studies, bioethics, and sociology to examine social issues such as inclusion, therapeutics, and religion through the lens of her son Jonah’s severe autism. This collection features essays about the b’nai mitzvah the author shared with her son, the often-fraught experience of taking him to restaurants and other public spaces, and the controversial use of psychiatric interventions on children, among other topics. In a time when the public perception of autism is shaped largely by the “quirky geniuses” featured on television shows like The Big Bang Theory and The Good Doctor, We Walk insists that public debates about this disorder foreground those who are most impacted by it.

Author Bio: Amy S.F. Lutz has written about severe autism for The Atlantic, Slate, Psychology Today, and many other platforms. Her first book, Each Day I Like It Better, was published in 2014. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the History of Medicine at Penn while trying to spend enough quality time with her five children that they don’t forget what she looks like.

Partners: Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

Such a Library!: A Yiddish Folktale Re-Imagined Jill Ross Nadler Date: Sunday, May 2, 2021 Time: 4:00PM EST Check back soon for registration details!

Event Info: PJ Library and friends invite you to come visit an out-of-the ordinary library featuring special guest, author Jill Ross Nadler who will delight us with an interactive storytelling of her new book. Help her bring this modern retelling of a folktale to life and then enjoy crafts and other book related activities.

Synopsis: Stevie craves quiet until he meets Miss Understood, a magical librarian whose books come to life and wreak havoc in this modern-day twist on an old Yiddish folktale.

Author Bio: Jill Nadler is the co-founder of Page Turner Adventures, a theater company that inspires kids to collect, tell, and write stories. Jill also collects names. She’s been known as both Riley Roam and Storyologist Page Turner.

When not on stage or in a library, Jill can be found in South Florida with her husband and way too many cats.

Partners: PJ Library

To purchase a copy of the book and support your local book store, please visit Books on the Square. Use code: BOOKSERIES to receive a small discount!

The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook Elisa Spungen Bildner & Robert Bildner Date: Sunday, May 9, 2021 Time: 7:00PM EST Register at jewishallianceri.org/bildner/ Event Info: Join authors Robert Bildner and Elisa Spungen Bildner for a short cooking demo and discussion of their book, which pays tribute to the dedicated family farmers and farm-to-table chefs.

Synopsis: The Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts are famous for their unique culture, from scenic views to artistic and literary attractions.

But in addition to the region’s classic landmarks, the Berkshires also boasts an impressive number of family-run farms. Together with local restaurants, these farms add another feature to Berkshires culture: heartwarming and homegrown food. Telling the story of family-run agriculture through the language of food, The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook offers 125 recipes to recall the magic of the Berkshire region.

Author Bio: Robert Bildner, a former attorney, created and sold several food distribution and manufacturing companies. Bildner and his wife Elisa established the Foundation for Jewish Camp, and he serves as a lay leader on several nonprofit boards. He studied photography, and photographed this book’s farms and restaurants. He graduated from Yale University, University of Pennsylvania Law School and Jewish Theological Seminary.

Elisa Spungen Bildner is a former lawyer, CEO of a food company newspaper, editor/ reporter (Star Ledger, Newark, NJ) and journalism professor (Rutgers University and New York University). Spungen Bildner is also a professionally trained chef (School of Natural Cookery, Boulder, CO) and yoga instructor. She graduated from Yale College, Columbia University Law School, and also has an MS in Nutrition.