Another chapter added to Pittsburgh Jewish Book Festival

Landsmen who love literacy are in luck. The Pittsburgh Jewish Book Festival is returning Nov. 8-13. Featuring an array of author talks, live music and ample snacks, the program, according to organizers, seeks to engage readers across the region.

Festival director Shari Woldenberg said the program’s purpose is to “gather people for civil discourse.”

There’s an inability to openly converse during “such a partisan time,” she said. “We want to be able to have a civil discourse about all the complex things going on in the world today, and also celebrate Jewish culture.”

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The festival, which had similar goals last year, is growing.

Like its rollout, the program will again occur at Congregation Beth Shalom in Squirrel Hill; however, this year, the festival will feature “twice as many headliners,” according to lead sponsor Seth Glick.

“It’s important that Pittsburgh has a Jewish book festival, and the books and their authors were chosen to appeal not only to Beth Shalom members, but to all Pittsburghers,” added Glick (a Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle board member).

Throughout the festival, attendees can hear from numerous local writers, including Jonathan Zisook, author of “From Centre to Periphery and Beyond”; Richard H. Weisberg, author of “Law, Literature and History”; Audrey Glickman, author of “Pockets”; Howie Ehrlichman, author of “Not a Bad Trip?”; Ilene Winn-Lederer, author of “An Illuminated Torah Commentary”; and Chris Hall, author of “Mythic Judaism.”

Headliners include Sam Sussman, author of “Boy from the North Country”; Ilan Stavans, co-author of “Sabor Judío”; Joshua Leifer, author of “Tablets Shattered”; Jonathan Harounoff, author of “Unveiled”; and Jeremy Dauber, author of “Jewish Comedy.”

Now entering its second year, the festival hopes to become a permanent Pittsburgh fixture, Woldenberg said.

Aiding that ambition, she continued, are several sponsors and two $5,000 grants from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, including one from Federation’s SteelTree Fund and another from Federation’s Arthur J. and Betty F. Diskin Cultural Endowment Fund.

The support, which offsets honoraria and related fees, is critical, Woldenberg said. “We’d like to keep building on that and just have this be more of a regular institution.”

Having a dedicated festival welcoming authors and enabling discussion of Jewish ideas behooves a city, she said.

Considering what’s occurring in Israel and elsewhere worldwide, “it’s important to understand the larger context, and to not just read one news source and think that you’re getting all your answers from that one news source that may or may not be truthful,” she said.

There is a difficulty getting “real information and having real discussions,” she continued. “We don’t need to retreat into our polarized quarters.”

Easing access to the festival, and the opportunity to share ideas, is a tiered pricing system, Woldenberg said.

All non-headliner events (including, the local author showcase, sponsored speaker Adam Sobsey, Zoom lunch, and children and family program) are free. Tickets to single headliner events are $10. An all festival pass is $18; and a pass plus, which entitles its holder to all book festival events, as well as meet-and-greets with all the headliners, is $180.

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle is a sponsor of the festival. Registration and a schedule of events is available at bethshalompgh.org. PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.