Etgar Keret isn’t the only renowned international name at this year’s Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival. The program, which starts with Keret’s appearance at a gala on Saturday (November 26) and closes with a “festive literary cocktail party” on December 1, also features David Guterson, author of the 1994 bestseller Snow Falling on Cedars. The versatile American writer talks about his darkly witty new novel, Ed King, on Tuesday evening (November 29), with host Sheryl MacKay. And then there’s New York City–based food critic Danyelle Freeman, who joins the above-mentioned cocktail party with her latest, Try This: Traveling the Globe Without Leaving the Table.

A strong and diverse group of writers from closer to home is also on the bill, including UBC law professor and social critic Joel Bakan, the man behind the hit 2003 documentary film The Corporation and the new book Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children, appearing on Sunday (November 27). Novelist and St. Paul’s Hospital ER physician Daniel Kalla discusses his Shanghai-set historical saga The Far Side of the Sky on Monday evening (November 28), while fellow local Roberta Rich brings her smash debut novel The Midwife of Venice to a Wednesday (November 30) event that also features Canadian writers Norman Ravvin, Stuart Ross, and Alexi Zentner. On the festival’s final day, veteran Vancouver journalist Keith Morgan presents Ruta’s Closet, the deeply personal Holocaust memoir he cowrote with the late Ruth Kron Sigal.

All events take place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. For the complete schedule of panels, readings, book exchanges, art, and film, go to the Jewish Book Festival website.