Chapter One: Opening Night
Thursday, November 1, 2018 | 7:00 PM
JCC on the Cohn Campus | 13009 Community Campus Dr., Tampa FL 33625
The Showman
Dawn Raffel, The Strange Case of Dr. Couney, How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies. Raffel presents an extraordinary true tale of how a mysterious immigrant “doctor” became a revolutionary innovator in the early 20th Century, saving thousands of premature babies by placing them in incubators as part of Coney Island entertainment.
Tickets are $18 and include Spirits and a Light Dinner Buffet.
Chapter Two: Day of Champions
Sunday, November 4, 2018 | 10:30 AM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
Sip & Skype
Chloe Benjamin, The Immortalists. Enjoy a Champion Author interview and discussion via SKYPE while sipping spirits. Benjamin’s book has been on The New York Times Best Sellers List for weeks and has been included on many publishers’ “Best of Summer” reading lists.
Tickets are $5 and include drinks to sip and a nosh.
Breakfast of Champions
Sunday, November 4, 2018 | 11:30 AM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
Aili McConnon, Road to Valor, A True Story of World War II Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired A Nation. McConnon, co-authored with her brother, Andres McConnon, this biography of Gino Bartali, an Italian cycling legend.
Tickets are $15 and include a Breakfast Buffet.
Afternoon of Champions
Sunday, November 4, 2018 | 2:00 PM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
Harold Shinitzky, A Champion’s Mindset: 15 Mental Conditioning Steps to Becoming a Champion Athlete. Dr. Shinitzky’s book shares his award-winning mental-conditioning program designed to boost anyone’s achievement of any goal. His program has led to groundbreaking success for many including Olympians and celebrity superstars.
Tickets are $5 and include healthy snacks.
Chapter Three: In The Festival Bookstore
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | 6:30 PM
JCC on the Cohn Campus | 13009 Community Campus Dr., Tampa FL 33625
Featured Local Author
Rachel Harris, Warriors, Witches, Whores – Women in Israeli Cinema. Harris adopts a cultural studies approach with her book, examining how Western feminist filmmakers frequently turn to Israel’s less impressive resources as sources for their inspiration.
Free admission
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | 7:30 PM
JCC on the Cohn Campus | 13009 Community Campus Dr., Tampa FL 33625
Featured Local Author
Jeff Lipkes, Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914. Lipkes’ book is a history of the German army’s orchestrated campaign of terror in Belgium in 1914, when the German military were experimenting with methods they hoped would facilitate modern, massive, fast-moving warfare meant to terrorize conquered populations into complete submission.
Free admission
Tickets are $5 and include both of the evening’s programs.
Chapter Four: Lunch and Laugh
Friday, November 9, 2018 | 11:30 AM
Carrollwood Country Club | 13903 Clubhouse Drive, Tampa, FL 33618
Luncheon
Marilyn Simon Rothstein, Husbands and Other Sharp Objects. A hilarious, heartwarming novel for anyone who has ever had a family, Rothstein’s book is about the planning of a wedding set on a rollicking stage of family dynamics.
Tickets are $25 and include a lunch buffet. Advance reservations by 11/1/18 are required for this event.
Chapter Five: Veterans Day Book Festival Events
Sunday, November 11, 2018 | 3:00 PM
JCC on the Cohn Campus | 13009 Community Campus Dr., Tampa 33625
Afternoon Rush Hour
Stephen Fried, Rush: Revolution, Madness & The Visionary Doctor Who Became A Founding Father. Award-winning journalist and bestselling author, Fried has produced a remarkable biography of Benjamin Rush. This young medical pioneer was one of the most significant, provocative and unsung Founding Fathers we’ve never heard of but the most famous doctor during the American Revolution.
Tickets are $10 and include a Gourmet Coffee Bar with Pick-Me-Up Snack Buffet.
Veterans Day Book Festival Events
Sunday, November 11, 2018 | 5:00 PM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
The Malnicks
Dick Berman, The Machalniks. Berman’s historical fiction begins in 1948. A second holocaust looms, as five Arab countries vow to annihilate the unarmed 600,000 Jews living in the newly declared state of Israel. It is Jewish American World War II veteran airmen who change history by smuggling weapons to those Jews and creating the first Israeli Air Force. Jewish War Veterans Post #373 will be special guests at this event.
Tickets are $18 and include a Deli Dinner.
Chapter Six: In The Festival Bookstore
Wednesday, November 14, 2018 | 7:00 PM
JCC on the Cohn Campus | 13009 Community Campus Dr., Tampa FL 33625
Take A Journey
Rudolph Ruder’s book, The Long Journey to Cleveland, is his parents’ story. His father was a Polish Jew from Lvov who survived German death camps. His mother was a German Catholic who had been a member of Hitler Youth.
Free admission
Chapter Seven: Signature Festival Day
Sunday, November 18, 2018 | 1:30 PM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
Sip & Skype
Ilana Kurshan, If All the Seas Were Ink | Winner of the 2018 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish
Literature, among other top international tributes, Kurshan’s exquisite memoir starts when she is 27, new to and alone in Jerusalem in the wake of a painful divorce. Desperate, she joins the world’s longest-running and largest book club, studying daf yomi, Hebrew for a daily page of the Talmud. During that 7-1/2 year cycle of learning, Kurshan’s life will be altered in many ways.
Tickets are $5 and include drinks to sip and a nosh.
Featured Festival Day | Young Adult Novel Tea
Sunday, November 18, 2018 | 2:30 PM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
Author Panel: Valladares & Frank
Ellen Wolfson Valladares, Crossing the Line. Valladares is an award-winning writer/author and a native Floridian. Her novel is an intriguing, mystical tale about friendship, fate and the courage to believe. It features Laura, who died 30 years ago and enlists the help of a high school reporter named Rebecca to investigate the truth about Laura’s tragic young death.
Sarah Frank, One Chance. Local Blake High School teen author, Frank has already won her first award from the Florida Authors & Publishers Association. In her book, an orphan girl uses a magic stone to travel back in time to try to discover what happened to her parents and to see if she can change history.
Frank and Valladares will be featured together.
Tickets are $12 and will include High Tea.
Featured Festival Day| Dinner and A Movie
Sunday, November 18, 2018 | 5:00 PM
Bryan Glazer Family JCC | 522 N. Howard Ave, Tampa, FL 33606
Gerri Chanel, Saving Mona Lisa, The Battle to Protect The Louvre and Its Treasures During World War II. Chanel’s nonfiction relays the history of the Louvre staff’s efforts to keep the priceless treasures out of the hands of Hitler and his henchmen and to keep the Louvre palace safe. At times, Mona Lisa slept at the bedside of curators who were painfully aware of their heavy responsibility.
The 2014 movie, “The Monuments Men,” starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett, relayed according to Chanel, only a small role of “the full-length treatment it demands.” The film will be shown as a part of Chanel’s presentation following dinner. Chanel is a prize-winning freelance journalist who divides her time between Paris, New York and Toronto.
Tickets are $18 and include a Light Dinner Buffet.
Book sales and signing will follow every festival presentation.
The festival bookstore will house all of the featured festival books beginning on November 1st through November 18th at the JCC on the Cohn Campus.
For more information please contact Brandy Gold at brandy.gold@jewishtampa.com
