Have cooling temperatures left you longing to curl up with a good book?
The Northwest Ohio Jewish Book Festival has a few recommendations.
Like, say, Beverly Gray’s Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How ‘The Graduate’ Became the Touchstone of a Generation. As the iconic film at the heart of the book approaches its 50th anniversary, the author takes a super-close behind-the-scenes look at how it catapulted a relatively unknown actor named Dustin Hoffman into stardom and lodged itself into the pop culture lexicon.
“So many of my generation saw that movie,” said Alix Greenblatt, a committee member for this year’s festival who describes herself as “mid-70s.” “I think they’ll find it extremely interesting. I think [the author will] be interesting.”
The 14th annual Northwest Ohio Jewish Book Festival returns to Toledo Nov. 1-19, with Seducing Mrs. Robinson among five books featured in this year’s lineup. Each has a tie to Judaism by way of theme or author, and other selections range from mystery to memoir.
As in past years, the festival is structured around five individual events, each featuring a presentation by the author and book-signing. Registration for each presentation is requested by Friday; for more information, go to jewishtoledo.org/book-festival-2018.
Lone Wolf in Jerusalem, by Ehud Diskin, kicks off the festival on Nov. 1. The Israeli bestseller is a fictional account of a young man who, after courageously resisting the Nazis, finds himself in a new battleground in Israel, where British occupational forces are blocking Holocaust survivors from their homeland.
Mr. Diskin will present at a gourmet dessert reception at the Premier Banquet Hall, 4480 Heatherdowns Blvd., at 7:30 p.m. Registration is $15 without a book or $25 with a book.
Next comes Seduced by Mrs. Robinson at noon on Nov. 8; A Marriage in Dog Years, a memoir by Nancy Balbirer, at noon on Nov. 13; Gone to Dust, a mystery by by the Emmy-winning Seinfeld writer Matt Goldman, at 7 p.m. Nov. 15; and the fictional Husbands and Other Sharp Objects, by Marilyn Simon Rothstein, at 7 p.m. Nov. 19.
In the last light-hearted selection, protagonist Marcy Hammer finds herself planning her daughter’s wedding while she simultaneously plans her own divorce.
Books are selected each year by a 10-person committee which pares down a list that begins with as many as 250 titles. That initial intimidating number comes through the Jewish Book Council, which hosts a speed dating-esque conference for authors and festival organizers each spring; Toledo’s Janet Rogolsky and Rene Rusgo attend.
Ms. Rogolsky and Ms. Rusgo brings back 50 or so titles for the local committee to consider. Once the committee make its selections, they go back to the Jewish Book Council, which in turn assists in matching festival organizers across the country with authors who often travel from out of town to attend festivals.
Ms. Greenblatt said diversity is key in making selections.
“You don’t want all Holocaust, you don’t want all contemporary,” she said. “You want to appeal to as many people as you possibly can.”
There’s also intentional diversity in the presentations, some of which are luncheons and some of which are evening dessert or appetizer receptions. That’s a nod to those who might not be able to make a mid-day event or those who might not like to drive at night.
“This is a good variety,” Ms. Greenblatt said.
To register for an event, call the registration hotline at 419-531-2119, ext. 2, or email registration@jewishtoledo.com. Payment is due at time of registration.
Contact Nicki Gorny at ngorny@theblade.com or 419-724-6133.