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Andrew Miller |
Top literary event fills London’s festival gap
Director Geraldine D’Amico explains to Dan Carrier why Jewish Book Week is going from strength to strength
IT seems an oversight that London does not have its own dedicated literary festival. Many provincial towns host a week of literary events nowadays, but not the centre of the book trade, of the written media and where the vast majority of authors either live or where their publishers reside.
But according to Geraldine D’Amico, director of next week’s Jewish book festival, by its very nature the city is just too big for a festival without a particular slant – and that’s why the Jewish Book Week has filled a niche.
Ms D’Amico, who is into her second year of co-ordinating the annual festival in Bloomsbury, which starts next Saturday and features authors talks, discussions, a book fair, film screenings and comedy, believes that the Jewish culture is a handy hook to use.
She said: “By giving it focus, it has survived – others who attempted to run a literary festival without such a starting point have found it too hard – there is just too much out there for a city this size.”
But Jewish themes is just a starting point, continues Ms D’Amico.
“It’s not just a week about Judaism. The festival programme reflects much more than that. It appeals to a wide range of people, and that means people who are not Jewish, but are interested in concepts of culture.”
This gives the organisers scope to discuss politics as well as art.
She adds: “We are not aiming simply to have authors talk about their works – we have included a number of discussions, of talking points on a wide range of different subjects.”
And the week features views from across the spectrum. One of the highlights is a discussion featuring the authors of the controversial book Shared Histories – a Palestinian/Israeli dialogue.
Written by academics Paul Scham, Walid Salem and Benjamin Pogrund, it tells the history of Israel and Palestine from both sides – and then the differences in interpretation are discussed by the authors, both Jewish and Arab.
And on the podium this year the Palestinian ambassador Manuel Hassassian is joined by Paul Scham, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC and Pogrund, who is a director of the Yakar Centre for Social Concern, Jerusalem.
They will be discussing the idea that there is no single history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The book uses narratives from both Israeli and Palestinian historians and poses the question of how such works may be utilised to lead to peace.
Other talks regarding the Middle East include a discussion chaired by Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland called The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, with Anthony Julius and Leon Wieseltier.
The topic is the rise of anti-semitism coupled with a rise in Jewish culture and the virtual acceptance of a two-state solution.
Other highlights include a discussion featuring BBC Six O’Clock news anchorman George Alagiah and author Andrew Miller.
Both have written books discussing immigration in Britain – Miller’s tale is the story of his maternal grandparents Henry and Miriam Freedman, the products of early 1900s East End Jewish families.
Henry earned a living in the markets, selling quack remedies with a line of irresistible patter.
He soon went into the rag trade, but while other Jewish families were carving out a living as tailors of men’s wear or leather, he established a factory that specialised in underwear.
Henry was determined to become established – and part of the establishment – in the new country, and Miller’s story charts his grandfather’s quest to become well-heeled on the back of his lingerie business.
Alagiah’s story comes from a different era and a different diaspora, but substitute the names and the cultures and there are haunting similarities.
A Home From Home charts his parents’ journey from the Tamil area of Sri Lanka to Ghana, and then on to Britain.
He chronicles how he had to come to terms with his background and how he has dealt with racism, and the concept of multi-culturalism in Britain today.
But the organisers also pride themselves on the lighter touches they offer. New York University’s Vivien Goldman crosses the Atlantic to discuss Bob Marley and the Rastafarian culture.
Hampstead author Michael Norton presents his do-gooders bible, 365 ways To Change The World, which offers a daily fix-the-earth solution on each page.
And for children, the Pomegranate Puppet Theatre tell the story of Esther, while children’s writer and illustrator Judith Kerr, who wrote the best-selling When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit discusses her work and tells some of her favourite stories.
Festival Highlights
SATURDAY 24
Bible scholars Robert Alter, Avivah Zornberg and Yair Zakovitch open the festival offering their insights into Genesis 19:24 – the birth of Jacob and Esau. 8.30pm.
SUNDAY 25
Web of Deceit: The War in Iraq. 60 Minutes documentary maker Barry Lando and QC and Professor of International Law at UCL Phillipe Sands. 11am.
MONDAY 26
The Illusion of Return: Award-winning author Samir El-Youssef talks to Linda Grant about his novel, The illusion of Return, about two friends meeting at Heathrow airport 17 years after they last saw each other in a refugee camp in the Lebanon. 6.45pm.
TUESDAY 27
Sir Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi, talks with New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier about the power of prayer. 8.30pm.
WEDNESDAY 28
Passions: Jews On the Record, with Evening Standard’s Norman Lebrecht. The reviewer discusses the role Jews have played in making classical music, and tells some of the quirkier stories of Jewish influences on the music industry, including the orthodox magnate who financed a gay record label. 6.15pm.
THURSDAY 1
Michele and Amy Hanson present Living With Mother, based on her Guardian columns of the same name, which chronicle life in the Hanson household with her elderly mum living in situ, 1pm. – See My Favourite Restaurant, Review page XIII.
Is Humour Good for the Jews? Comedians Judy Batalion, Sol Bernstein, Adam Bloom, Jonny Geller, Penelope Solomon discuss with film critic Jason Solomons in the chair. What are the funniest Jewish books? What makes Jewish humour specific? How do US and UK attitudes differ? 8.30pm.
FRIDAY 2
Two workshops feature authors passing on trade secrets on how to write the perfect crime novel and how to write children’s books. 11am.
SATURDAY 3
Mark Lawson interviews author Nora Ephron and discusses her new book I Feel Bad About My Neck And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, a comic look at the aging process. 8.30pm.
SUNDAY 04
Baroness Julia Neuberger Susannah Heschel and Lynne Segal talk about the effect women have had on Judaism and vice the versa.12.30pm.
Howard Jacobson talks about literature and comedy with Hay festival director Peter Florence. 8.30pm. |
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