It’s laugh time! Comedienne extraordinaire Carol Leifer, who brought down the “house” in 2010 with a hilarious comedy routine, opens our Festival with her riotous new act. Leifer, author of When you Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win, is an Emmy-winning writer and producer for such shows as Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live and The Academy Awards. She has starred in several of her own comedy specials on HBO and Comedy Central, and has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

6:45 PM reception for Contra Costa JCC patrons and Book Festival pass holders.

Underwriter: Carole and Donald Chaiken.

Co-sponsors: Beth Chaim Congregation and Diablo Valley Hadassah

How does one create the “perfect alibi”? What are “special circumstances” and “criminal intent”? Meet Sheldon Siegel, author of a series of critically acclaimed, best-selling courtroom mysteries featuring San Francisco criminal defense attorneys Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez, and get the ins and outs of legal drama.

While the demise of publishing has been predicted since the first Gutenberg Bible came off the press, the book business as we know it is definitely undergoing a revolution. Questions abound: Will there be book stores in our future? Will cost benefit analysis trump society’s love of a hand-held book? Noted author Alan Jacobson (Hard Target) portrays the future of book publishing.

Co-sponsor: Temple Isaiah.

Did you know that only 15% of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy Kosher are Jewish? So who are the other 85% and why do they embrace this Bible-based practice? We’ll enjoy a dairy lunch and then hear from journalist Sue Fishkoff, author of Kosher Nation.

Jewish-American fiction is alive and well, but the narrative has changed since Philip Roth first published Portnoy’s Complaint. With an eye toward history, award-winning writer and journalist Rebecca Spence (who has written for the Forward, Elle, and Tablet) will reveal how and why a new generation of writers has chosen to embrace, rather than suffer, the Jewish-American story. Along the way, she’ll examine such authors as Cynthia Ozick, Nathan Englander, Nicole Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer, and, of course, Philip Roth.

Co-sponsor: Congregation B’nai Tikvah

What will spirituality and connectedness look like in twenty years? How will we express Jewish values? Our visionaries (Adam Berman of Urban Adamah, the Jewish Federation’s Rabbi James M. Brandt, Temple Isaiah’s Rabbi Alissa Forrest, Beth Chaim Congregation’s Rabbi Dan Goldblatt, and a representative from Wilderness Torah) represent a wide range of thought and action. Join us to imagine the Jewish future.

What does it take to make you happy? Academy-award winning director Roko Belic (Genghis Blues) takes us on a compelling cinematic journey to meet over 20 people from 14 different countries, including a rickshaw-puller in the streets of Kolkatta, a woman run over by a truck, a Cajun fisherman, and a scientist scanning brains to identify the secret of true bliss.

With the world spinning out of control, how does a person find inner strength? Andrea Alban’s coming-of-age novel follows a young woman as she flees her home in Odessa and travels to Shanghai. Soon, she realizes that life affords many challenges, including the Japanese occupation of China during WWII. Chai tea (our gracious twist on high tea) and delectable desserts will be served.

Were you shocked by the “Tiger Mother’s” unforgiving expectations for her children? Buzz, by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Katherine Ellison, is a Jewish mother’s response to over-expectations and parental rigidity. We follow her family during the year before her son’s bar mitzvah—after both of them were diagnosed with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is a “must attend” event for any parent challenged with a high-spirited child. Ellison has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America and has been published in The New York Times and Time Magazine.

Co-sponsors: CJLL’s Special Education Initiative, PJ Library and Contra Costa Jewish Day School

Do you know which parenting book will work best for you?  Are you tired of outdated advice…unrealistic expectations? Please join Lori Geismar Ryan, Ph.D., the Contra Costa JCC’s new Director of Early Childhood Education, as she shares inspirations from Blessing of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel, and Calm and Compassionate Children by Susan Dermond. This program will be followed later in the fall by an ongoing Jewish parenting book group.

Do you love chocolate? Do you love poems? Put them together and what you get is a memorable afternoon of delicious chocolate bites and thought-provoking, wry and even whimsical poetry by Arthur Weil, Stewart Florsheim, Shoshana Eliahu, Marc Hofstadter, Elan Lubliner, Cantor Linda Hirschhorn and others.

Chocolates courtesy of Leonidas Fresh Belgian Chocolates

Known for his love of comic books, chocolate, caffeine, and laughter (but not in that order), Michael Capozzola deep roasts the world of food and food culture, giving us a three-course serving of stand-up, stories and multimedia. Capozzola is a comedian and cartoonist whose creations have appeared in The National Lampoon, The New York Times and that staple of sanity, Mad Magazine.

Underwritten by Susan and Howard Geifman.

I love you. The meeting ran late. I want a divorce…. Victoria Zackheim and Kathi Kamen Goldmark share profoundly personal stories from several women after the men in their lives said something good or bad that changed them irrevocably. Zackheim is the author of The Bone Weaver, and editor of The Face in the Mirror and For Keeps. Goldmark is the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You.

Master storyteller Martin Fletcher dramatizes explosive events in post-World War II London and Palestine. As anti-Semitism sweeps across the streets of London, Austrian refugees Edith and George desperately search for surviving family members in a world riddled with terrorism, assassination attempts, and fear. Fletcher, the winner of a Jewish National Book Award and five Emmy Awards, was the NBC News Bureau Chief in Tel Aviv for many years.

Underwritten by Jo-Ann and Arnold Jacobson, M.D.
Benefactor: Betsy Fels Pottruck.
Co-sponsor: Tillie and Rene Molho Fund for Holocaust Remembrance of The Jewish Community Foundation.

10:00 AM: Pictures at an Exhibition It wasn’t always the “City of Lights.”After WWII draws to a close, art aficionados Daniel Berenson and his son Max climb out of their hiding place in the south of France only to discover that their art gallery in Paris (featuring paintings by Picasso, Matisse, and Degas) has been plundered. The chase for the missing art is the center of this compelling novel by Sara Houghteling, who portrays the greed that flourishes even today as the descendants of the rightful owners are unable to claim their possessions.

11:30 AM: The Oracle of Stamboul Mixing fiction with true events, The Oracle of Stamboul brings us to the heart of the Ottoman Empire during its chaotic decline. Author Michael David Lukas (who was a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey) takes us on an enchanting journey to a time when a Jewish girl dared to charm a Muslim sultan and change the course of history.

How has the legend about Ishmael affected Jewish-Islamic relations? Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Ph.D., the co-director of the new Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement at Hebrew Union College, will explore the Abrahamic family feud in Part I of the four part series “An Introduction of Islam for Jews.”

Organized by Cong. Beth Chaim, Cong. B’nai Shalom, Cong. B’nai Tikvah and Temple Isaiah, this series will take place at each of these synagogues during the coming year.

Co-sponsors: Beth Chaim Cong. and Cong. B’nai Shalom.

One of NPR’s most popular interviewers, award-winning broadcaster Michael Krasny (Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest) asks us to engage in a conversation about God, human responsibility, the nature of evil, paranormal theories, and the role of organized religion in society.

Co-sponsor: Congregation Beth Emek.