If this is supposed to be an era of austerity, Stephanie Singer never got the memo. For BookFest 2012, the manager of special programs at the JCC of San Francisco decided to go all out.
BookFest is the center’s annual celebration of Jewish books. Now in its seventh year, the festival routinely draws top authors for readings and panels. For this year’s event, which runs from Feb. 23 to 28, Singer wanted more.
In addition to major writers, she’s lined up multiple panel discussions, film screenings, theater presentations, a Shabbat dinner (with recipes culled from popular Jewish cookbooks) and a large-scale art display: sculptures made from books.
“It was a little bit out of boredom,” Singer says, describing the impetus to enlarge BookFest’s scope. “We wanted to see what we could do differently and change the model. We brought together an amazing team to see how we could blow it up.”
BookFest has long been a magnet for important Jewish authors on the book-tour circuit, and this year is no different. Writers on hand include humanities scholar and literary critic Harold Bloom, poet laureate Philip Levine, psychotherapist and author Irvin Yalom (“The Spinoza Problem”) and novelists Dara Horn and Nicole Krauss (the best-seller “Great House”).
The latter will give the keynote address at BookFest Sunday, the Feb. 26 anchor event. Throughout the day, superstar authors will participate in panel discussions, many of them featuring venerable writers (such as National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates) and others showcasing up-and-coming young Jewish writers (such as “Hot Pink” author Adam Levin).
Cynthia Ozick, author of acclaimed novels, essays and short-story collections such as “The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories” will participate in a tribute to her work via closed-circuit television.
“I like the idea of writers on writers,” Singer notes, “and having older and younger authors in conversation. That’s what I tried to do. Most programs have that.”
One special guest on the lineup is 84-year-old poet laureate Levine, a Fresno resident, who will do a poetry reading at BookFest Sunday.
He’s not the only octogenarian taking part in BookFest. French Jewish filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, best known for his seminal 1985 documentary “Shoah,” will deliver the sold-out Pritzker Family Lecture on Feb. 28.
At 86, Lanzmann is still very active, having recently published a memoir and approved a new director’s cut of “Shoah,” with additional material. As if it wasn’t long enough at nine-plus hours.
“‘Shoah’ is a masterpiece,” Singer says. “In Europe they’ve never stopped showing it on the big screen. It’s a fixture, part of people’s cultural awareness. It will go down as one of the most important films in history.”
For a musical note, graphic novelist Ben Katchor and composer Mark Mulcahy created “Up from the Stacks,” a multimedia pop opera set, appropriately, in the famous New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
Also on stage will be Word for Word’s production of two short stories by San Francisco writer Peter Orner, as well as a performance piece from artist-filmmaker Miranda July.
For Friday evening, Feb. 24, Singer scheduled something of a literary feast: a Shabbat dinner and discussion with Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder on the subject of Jewish cookbooks.
As for art, the JCC’s Katz Snyder Gallery is displaying 17 of Brian Dettmer’s swirling sculptures, some shaped like a chambered nautilus and all made entirely of what the artist calls “excavated” books.
That ought to get BookFest attendees in the mood for books, if they aren’t already. For all the gloomy talk that younger generations aren’t reading like their forebears, Singer has a decidedly sunny outlook.
“I don’t think literature and books are fading away anytime soon,” she says.
BookFest 2012, Feb. 23-28 at the JCC of San Francisco, 3200 California St. www.jccsf.org
Speaking, melodically, on behalf of working stiffs everywhere
rebecca spence | j. correspondent
Philip Levine doesn’t write Holocaust poetry.
“The material is so difficult to deal with, and I’m an American. I didn’t have to go through that shit,” Levine said, speaking on the phone from his home in Fresno. “The only poems I ever wrote directly about the Holocaust were lousy, and I’d throw them away.”
Click here to read the full article.
Tradition, doubt, memory a potent mix on Krauss’ table
sandee brawarsky | j. correspondent
Nicole Krauss began writing “Great House” soon after her first child was born. As a new mother, she was thinking about what parents pass on to their children, and the burden of inheritance. For her third novel, she also was interested in pursuing characters who made different choices than she did.
Click here to read the full article.
Busy S.F. author relishes chance to talk about literary hero
dan pine | j. staff
Peter Orner has no idea how the San Francisco theater company Word for Word will stage two of his short stories. To find out, he’ll have to sit, watch and listen with the rest of the audience.
Click here to read the full article.
cover illustration/cathleen maclearie