Jewish Community Center

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Presented by the St. Paul JCC in partnership with the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library with generous support from the George Kaplan Memorial Foundation.

The St. Paul JCC is proud to celebrate the significant contributions of today's finest authors: seasoned writers, well known among scholarly or literary circles, and fresh voices newly emerging. We believe in the power of the arts to inform and engage us, subtly and deeply, and give meaning to our shared experiences.

We invite you to laugh, to think, to feel, to reflect, to debate, to celebrate, and to Get Inspired!

Bruchim haba'im, Welcome!

Tickets are available at the door, or by calling 651-698-0751, or online.

People of the Book Series Pass
$45 members, $65 community
The People of the Book Series Pass is a ticket package for the Twin Cities Jewish Book Fair.

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Thursday, October 18 • 6 pm
FRIENDS OF THE ARTS
OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION

An exclusive reception to honor St. Paul JCC Friends of the Arts families and their commitment to keeping the arts alive at the JCC. Your reservation includes complimentary tickets and seating at the Wellstone event. Please RSVP by October 16.

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Thursday, October 18 • 7 pm • free
Opening Night with Paul David Wellstone Jr.
Becoming Wellstone: Healing from Tragedy and Carrying on My Father's Legacy
SPONSORED BY: The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library
and Hazelden Publishing

On October 25, 2002, Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, and their daughter, Marcia, died in a plane crash while on their way to Eveleth, Minnesota. In this intimate memoir, Dave Wellstone, as he is called by his friends, presents an eloquent portrait of an inspiring and fearless fighter and reveals that Senator Wellstone was more than a crusader for the working poor - he was also a trusted confidant, and an involved father and husband who loved family meals and touch football games as much as he loved his grassroots organizing. He made a point to encourage his children to "Think for yourself; don't just go around with the crowd - and never be afraid to take an unpopular stand."

Paul David Wellstone Jr. is the founding partner of Family Place Home Builders, a business dedicated to building affordable housing. He is also a co-founder of Wellstone Action, a national center for training and leadership development in the progressive movement, and Wellstone Center, which seeks to bolster the talents and capabilities of people through workshops, seminars, and residencies. He resides in St. Paul with his wife, Leah.

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Thursday, October 25 • 7 pm
Delia Ephron
The Lion Is In
$9 • $6 Member Value Price

A bestselling author, screenwriter and playwright, Delia Ephron's work is marked by deftness, originality and sparkling wit. Her latest novel, The Lion Is In, tells the story of three women on the run, all with their own secrets and transgressions, who cross paths with Marcel, a retired circus lion stuck in a down-and-out nightclub. An unforgettable story of friendship and resiliency, the story tackles the question of how each of us deals with the "lions" in our lives. Ephron's work includes the screenplays The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, You've Got Mail, Hanging Up (based on her novel) and Michael, as well as novels and books of humor. Her essays have appeared in New York Magazine, where she served as a contributing editor, The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, MORE and The Huffington Post.

Community Partners: Jewish Federation of Greater St. Paul, St. Paul Chapter of Hadassah

Delia Ephron
Conversations at KCTS 9

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Sunday, October 28 • 7 pm CANCELED
Eyal Press
Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times
$9 • $6 Member Value Price

Eyal Press' book Beautiful Souls is filled with dramatic stories of unlikely resisters - people who acted according to their conscience when faced with moral dilemmas. What impels ordinary people to defy the sway of authority and convention?  In examining this question, Press shows that the boldest acts of dissent are often carried out not by radicals but by true believers who cling with unusual fierceness to their convictions. At a time of economic calamity and political unrest, this work of narrative journalism is a timely examination of the choices and dilemmas we all face when our principles collide with loyalty and duty.

Community Partners:
Adath Jeshurun Congregation, American Jewish World, Beth El Synagogue, Jewish Family Service of St. Paul, Or Emet Congregation, Talmud Torah of St. Paul, Temple Israel

Eyal Press
Review of Beautiful Souls in The New York Times

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Sunday, November 4 • 7 pm
Alicia Oltuski
Precious Objects: A Story of Diamonds, Family and a Way of Life
$9 • $6 Member Value Price

Ninety percent of all diamonds that enter America are bought and sold in the Diamond District, a few extraordinary blocks located in Midtown Manhattan. In her book Precious Objects, Alicia Oltuski, a journalist, daughter and granddaughter of diamond dealers, seamlessly blends family narrative with literary reporting to reveal the fascinating secrets of the business and its madcap characters. With insight and drama, Oltuski explores the historical connection between Jews and the industry, the gem and its lore and the exotic citizens of this secluded world.

Community Partners: Beth Jacob Congregation, Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest, Sholom, TCJewfolk.com

Alicia Oltuski
Precious Objects Book Trailer

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Wednesday, November 7 • 7 pm
Matt Biers-Ariel
The Bar Mitzvah and the Beast: One Family's Cross-Country Ride of Passage by Bike
$9 • $6 member value price

Matt Biers-Ariel is a Jewish educator, environmental writer, schoolteacher and father of three who never dreamed of riding a bike across the United States. But when his teenage son, Yonah, refused to have a Bar Mitzvah, Biers-Ariel and his family decided to saddle up for a "ride of passage" that would take them 3,804 miles, from San Francisco to Washington, DC, collecting thousands of signatures on a self-made global warming petition to deliver to Congress. A funny, thoughtful memoir of one American family's extraordinary journey and the bond between a spiritual, nature-loving father and his ambivalent, computer-game-loving son.

Community Partners:
Bet Shalom Congregation, National Council of Jewish Women - St. Paul Section, Talmud Torah of St. Paul, Shir Tikvah Congregation

Matt Biers-Ariel

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Wednesday, November 14 • 7 pm
Etgar Keret
Suddenly, A Knock On The Door
At Sabes JCC, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Rd., Minneapolis

$12 • $10 students, seniors and JCC members
Free for People of the Book Subscribers
Individual tickets through Sabes JCC. 952-381-3499
or tickets@sabesjcc.org

IIn Etgar Keret's short story collection, daily life is complicated, dangerous and full of yearning. Overflowing with absurdity, humor, sadness and compassion, the dark tales in Suddenly, a Knock on the Door firmly establish Keret as one of the most original writers of his generation. The Tel Aviv native is the author of six bestselling story collections and his writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The New York Times, The Paris Review and Zoetrope. His film, Jellyfish, won the Camera d'Or award for best first feature at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. He was named a Chevalier of France's Order of Arts and Letters in 2010.

Part of the Culture BLVD II: Israeli Author Series sponsored by the Israel Center of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation and Sabes JCC.

Etgar Keret
Keret's stories on This American Life

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Saturday, November 17, 2012 • 7 pm
SPONSORED by: Bremer Bank
Deborah Feldman
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hassidic Roots
$9 • $6 Member Value Price

Unorthodox is the captivating odyssey of a young woman determined to live her own life at any cost. Deborah Feldman, who grew up within the Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism, was married at 17 to a man she had only met for 30 minutes. Denied a traditional education - sexual or otherwise - she was unable to consummate the relationship for a year, resulting in debilitating anxiety that was exacerbated by the public shame of having failed to serve her husband. During stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters in the novels of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott, she ultimately discovered that an alternative way of life was possible for herself and her son and found the strength to strike out on her own.

Community Partners:
Mt. Zion Temple, TCJewfolk.com, Temple of Aaron

Deborah Feldman
Appearance on The View

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ADDITIONAL AUTHOR EVENTS IN 2013


Thursday, April 11, 2013 • 7 pm
SPONSORED BY RBC Wealth ManagementJoy Ladin
Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders
$9 • $6 Member Value Price

Professor Jay Ladin made headlines around the world when, after years of teaching literature at Yeshiva University, he returned to the Orthodox Jewish campus as a woman - Joy Ladin. In Through the Door of Life, Ladin takes readers inside this transformation into a new self. With unsparing honesty and surprising humor, her poignant memoir takes us from living as the man she knew she wasn't to the new self she found when she opened the door of life. Ladin is a Fullbright Scholar, the author of six noted collections of poetry and the first openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution.

Community Partners: Center for Jewish Studies--University of Minnesota, Shir Tikvah Congregation

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Monday, May 13, 2013 • 7 pm
Joshua Henkin
The World Without You
Free • At Common Good Books,
38 S. Snelling Ave, St Paul, MN 55105 • 651-225-8989

Critically acclaimed author Joshua Henkin, an expert at capturing the complicated dynamics and nuances of family relationships, examines the question of how people move on after losing someone they love in his latest novel The World Without You. The story follows the Frankel family as they descend upon their summer home in the Berkshires for the Fourth of July holiday and a memorial for Leo, the youngest of four siblings, who was killed while on assignment in Iraq. Over the course of three days, the Frankels take their first steps out of mourning to contend with sibling rivalries, marital feuds and secrets, facing the reality that Leo's death has changed their family forever.

Sponsored by Common Good Books
Community Partner: Bet Shalom Congregation

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013 • 7 pm
Anna Funder
All That I Am
$9 • $6 Member Value Price

All That I Am, Anna Funder's fiction debut, won the Indie Book of the Year for 2012. A masterful and exhilarating exploration of bravery and betrayal, this novel tells the story of an elderly Sydney woman's role in the opposition to Hitler and the Nazi Party in the years leading up to World War II. All That I Am was inspired by the real life experiences of Ruth Blatt, who spent years in solitary confinement for trying to smuggle anti-Nazi leaflets into Germany.

Community Partners: Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies-University of Minnesota, Jewish Family Service of St. Paul, Jewish Federation of Greater St. Paul, National Council of Jewish Women - Greater Minneapolis Section, Temple Israel

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For more information contact:
Barbie Levine, Director of Adult Services: 651-255-4734
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