The JCC of Greater Albuquerque Presents:
The JCC Book Fest & Author Series 2024-25
September 8, 2024 – June 1, 2025
10 Acclaimed Authors, 9 In Person & 1 Virtual, Present the Best in Current Fiction, Non-Fiction & Memoir
Benyamin Cohen | The Einstein Effect: How the World’s Favorite Genius Got into Our Cars, Our Bathrooms, and Our Minds
Sunday, September 8th, 2024 at 3pm
In The Einstein Effect, award-winning author and journalist Cohen embarks on a global quest to unearth Einstein’s ongoing relevance today. He shows us the myriad ways the Nobel Prize winner’s influence is still with us, giving an in-depth―and often hilarious―look at the world’s favorite genius like you’ve never seen him before.
Moshe Basson | The Eucalyptus Cookbook
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2024 at 11am + Luncheon
The Eucalyptus restaurant is a Jerusalem landmark. In The Eucalyptus Cookbook, Chef Moshe Basson reveals his Levant cultivated culinary innovations. The magnificent photographs and exotic stories that accompany the mouthwatering recipes bring you into the kitchen of Chef Moshe’s mother, where Iraqi scents, sense, old world wisdom, and the struggles of building a home in a new land are palpable to the touch and to the taste.
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (Virtual Appearance) | The Wolf Hunt: A Novel
Sunday, November 3rd, 2024 at 3pm
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, awarding-winning author of Waking Lions, once again brings together taut, page-turning suspense, superb writing, and razor-sharp insight into the fault lines of race, identity, and privilege and the dark secrets we hide from those we love most. “… Relatable characters and off-the-charts emotional intensity with a sharply evoked Israeli cultural perspective.” -Kirkus-Starred Review
Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum | Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt
Tuesday, November 26th, 2024 at 7pm
Rabbi Zarum is an acclaimed lecturer who has a rare ability to face up to uncomfortable questions, reject stock responses, and explore the issues in a way that is both traditionally grounded and intellectually rigorous. In this original and thought-provoking work, he responds to twelve challenging questions that confront the Torah today.
R. Derek Black | The Klansman’s Son: My journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism
Sunday, January 12th, 2025 at 3pm
Racist hatred was all Black knew. Their father, Don Black, was a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke, their close family friend/mentor. They trace their uniquely insider account of the rise of white nationalism, and how a child indoctrinated with hate and prejudice can become an anti-racist, and transgender adult. This is a thoughtful, insightful, moving account with important lessons for our troubled times told with a compelling, sharp voice.
Rosa Lowinger | Dwell Time: A Memoir of Art, Exile, and Repair
Sunday, February 9th, 2025 at 3pm
Renowned art conservator Rosa Lowinger, one of the few prominent Latinas in the field of art and architectural conservation, penned an illuminating memoir. This is a moving portrait of a Cuban-Jewish family’s intergenerational trauma; a story about repair and healing that will forever change how you see managing damage and loss. This riveting and well-crafted account reads like a page-turning novel. A Kirkus-starred book.
Lauren Grodstein | We Must Not Think of Ourselves: A Novel
Sunday, March 9th, 2025 at 3pm
From NYT bestselling author Lauren Grodstein, a story inspired by a little-known piece of history in the lives of Jewish occupants of the Warsaw Ghetto in World War II. Called a “masterpiece”, and as seen on The Today Show – a ‘Read with Jenna’ pick. In 1940 Adam Paskow, a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, held captive by Nazi guards, awaiting a horrific fate. He joins a secret group of archivists working to preserve the truth of what is happening behind these walls. Inspired by the testimony-gathering project, Oneg Shabbat, and told with immediacy and heart, this is a piercing story of love, determination, and sacrifice.
Lee Matthew Goldberg | The Great Gimmelmans: A Novel
Sunday, April 27th, 2025 at 3pm
Kirkus-starred book. From Goldberg, author of fourteen novels, comes this engrossing dark comedy – a roller-coaster of a story with captivating characters inside an irresistible plot that is not for the faint of heart. Middle child Aaron Gimmelman watches as his family goes from upper middle-class Jewish suburban life to having a million dollars of stolen money stuffed in their RV’s cabinets while being pursued by the FBI and loan sharks. BUCKLE UP!
Debra Green | Mahjong at Mara’s: A Novel
Sunday, May 18th, 2025 at 3pm
A bighearted novel, Mahjong at Mara’s illustrates the road to understanding by the patchwork of people who make up suburban America. After losing the love of her life on 9/11, Lila and her teenage son Dante find solace in unlikely companions— a group of Mahjong-playing octogenarians: Thea, struggling with Alzheimer’s, her sweet husband, Joseph; Mali, a lonely Holocaust survivor; recently widowed Frank; and the persnickety, divorced Gladys. All their lives take surprising turns that raise questions about the concepts of family, loyalty, and love.
Jessica Keith | Saying Inshallah with Chutzpah: A Memoir
Sunday, June 1st, 2025 at 3pm
From floundering to navigating, this gefilte-fish-out-of-water story follows the unorthodox path of an anxiety-ridden Jewish woman who accepts a position working for a Muslim government, the Consulate of Kuwait. Jessica Keith left behind her fiancé and friends to navigate this culture of unfamiliar territory. With a lot to unpack—she felt alone and lost in translation. Having grown up in ABQ, she is a professor of cross-cultural communication at San Diego State University.