Set aside the last week of November for an extended literary treat! The Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival (Nov 25-30, 2017) takes Vancouver by storm with an exciting roster of writers from across Canada, the US, and Israel. This popular cultural extravaganza attracts sought-after authors and a wide audience from across the Lower Mainland. Th​e six days of the Festival are packed with inspiring and entertaining literary events including unique meet-the-author opportunities, readings and panel discussions, the annual book club event, writing workshops, children’s and youth authors, wellness and food subjects, interdisciplinary and multi-media events and two onsite bookstores – new and used, open throughout the week. The Festival offers something of interest for every age group and literary taste.

To kick things off, the Jewish Book Festival presents an exciting October 22 pre-fest event with award-winning author NATHAN ENGLANDER discussing Dinner at the Centre of the Earth, his latest political thriller unfolding in the highly charged territory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Featured 2017 Festival authors will include: ​ Opening Night Gala with award-winning novelist ALISON PICK in conversation about her brilliant and astonishing Strangers With the Same Dream. Set in the 1920s in the Middle East, this timely page-turner takes us to a lost time and place that still vividly haunts our present day; Israeli/American author RUBY NAMDAR, winner of the prestigious Sapir Prize for A Ruined House, “one of the most monumental works written in Hebrew in the last century”; award-winning author RACHEL KADISH headlining our annual Book Club Event with The Weight of Ink , a sophisticated work of historical fiction about women separated by centuries; actor and author GAVRIEL SAVIT whose YA (young adult) magical-realist novel Anna and the Swallow Man became an overnight success; PNINA GRANIRER, Vancouver painter who founded Artists in our Midst and has just published her memoir Light Within the Shadows; cheeky and energetic DANA & JACOB ATTIAS, authors of The Jewlish Cookbook which evolved from the playful social media hit cooking video series; local children and youth authors DAN BAR-EL, IRENE N. WATTS and KATHRYN E. SHOEMAKER presenting their latest books in school events; VPL writer-in-residence MIRIAM LIBICKI joining other graphic novel authors ORLI AUSLANDER and JONATHAN ROTSZTAIN in an evening dedicated to comics but not necessarily comedy; and ultimate character actor, raconteur and author STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY will be closing a head-spinning festival with My Adventures with God, where he humorously explores the idea that most people’s lives seem to fit into an Old Testament template.

​“The Jewish Book Festival embraces everyone who loves the written word” says Festival Director, Dana Camil Hewitt. “While the nucleus of our festival is Jewish-themed, our speakers, events and audience all defy narrow categorization: they challenge pre-conceptions about the meaning of our culture in the modern world and, with that, the festival expands its reach and becomes ever more inclusive. The emerging themes are universal: ancient as well as contemporary history stand out this year, dystopian elements merge with magical realism, several actors/authors will take the stage in engaging events and, again, we are giving humour and food their honoured places.”