Festival preview: Jewish Book Week, 27 February to 7 March
Don’t miss London’s longest running and most eclectic festival of ideas and writers, 27 February to 7 March, just off Russell Square, at the Royal National Hotel. And remember, you don’t need to be Jewish to enjoy Jewish Book Week!
Highlights:
Saturday 27 February, 8.30 pm: Sex, Lies and Regal Japes: The story of Esther, the sex-crazed king and his evil counsellor: A modern and irreverent twist on a traditional story with Iranian beats and a stellar cast which includes Anita Diamant, Kathy Lette, Simon Schama and David Schneider.
Sunday 28 February: a varied range of talks from 11.00 am to 10.00 pm
Businessman Gerald Ronson, poets Bernard Kops, George Szirtes, Michelene Wandor, novelists Anita Diamant, Norman Lebrecht, Simon Mawer, thriller writers Philip Sington and Frank Tallis, polemicists Adam Thirlwell and Will Self, mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, footballers and writers, last but not least, historian of money Niall Ferguson.
Monday 1 March
7.00 pm: Extremely Bad and Incredibly Cruel: Etgar Keret and Jonathan Safran Foer on eating animals
8.30 pm: Defining a Moral Compass: philosopher Susan Neiman in conversation with the Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Tuesday 2 March
7.00 pm David Aaronovitch and Francis Wheen on conspiracy theories
8.30 pm: French intellectual Helene Cixous on death, time and history.
Wednesday 3 March
7.00 pm Robert Winston on the dangers and fascination of science and technology.
8.30 pm What we have learnt (if anything) from the economic crisis with Oliver James, Adam LeBor, Gillian Tett and James Harding
Thursday 4 March
7.00 pm Democracy at Risk with John Kampfner, Eric Kauffman and Dominique Moisi
8.30 pm Justice Albie Sachs and Helena Kennedy
Friday 5 March
1.00pm: Agnes Desarthe and Claudia Roden on food, love and happiness.
Saturday 6 March
7.30 pm: Novelist Rebecca Goldstein discusses her hilarious novel about the existence (or not) of God, a 6 year old genius and a greedy academic with husband cognitive theorist Steven Pinker.
9.00 pm: Story telling with a difference: listen to homespun yarns by Jon Canter, Esther David, Rachel Holmes, Irma Kurtz while sipping a glass of wine and vote on whether the story you’ve heard was true or fiction.
Sunday 7 March
Events from 11.00 am to 10.00 pm: Fiction with Michael Arditti, Amanda Craig, Amy Bloom and Lionel Shriver, the Bible through queer theory and psychoanalysis, Polska!, celebrating Irene Nemirovsky and Israel, human rights and dialogue with the diaspora.
Children’s events with Justin Somper, Meg Rosoff, Anne Fine and many more.
Tickets are £5 to £15 with free events on week-day afternoons. To book, go to www.jewishbookweek.com or call 0844 847 2274
