Sydney Jewish Writers Festival 2017 program announced

The program has been announced for the 2017 Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, which runs from 26-27 August.

The festival will be headlined by British novelist Rachel Seiffert, who will appear on the opening night with local author Leah Kaminsky to talk about her new book A Boy in Winter (Virago), and at a second event with writer and director Cate Shortland, who adapted Seiffert’s earlier novel The Dark Room (Vintage) into the film Lore.

Among the writers appearing at the festival are Israeli historian, author and screenwriter Gadi Taub, US novelist Amy Gottlieb and local authors Caroline Baum, Jessica Friedmann, John Safran and Bram Presser.

The festival aims to encourage ‘a lively exchange of opinions from across the political spectrum on issues of interest to the Jewish community and beyond’, with events that explore feminism, food, grief, family histories and political extremism in Australia.

Festival director Justine Saidman said in a statement: ‘Just as you don’t need to be French to enjoy the French Film Festival, you don’t need to be Jewish to enjoy SJWF. Jewish wisdom teaches that books are more precious than gold and should be treated as companions, their authors as guides.’

For more information about the festival, click here.

Category: Festivals Local news