Family and community is the
theme of the 12th Annual Austin Jewish Book Fair, which began last week with
lectures from Tikkun editor and publisher Michael Lerner and
Boychicks in the Hood author Robert Eisenberg. The fair’s second and
final week, which is sponsored by The Jewish Community Center but open to the
general public, features lectures on traditional psychology, history,
storytelling, and children’s literature in various locations. Among the
events:
* Faye Moskowitz, editor of Her Face in the Mirror: Jewish Women on Mother
and Daughters, will discuss the dynamics of the mother-daughter
relationship as the keynote luncheon speaker at 11:30am, Friday at Congregation
Beth Israel (3901 Shoal Creek Blvd). Her Face in the Mirror collects
poems, essays, and short stories that explore the impact of feminism,
immigration, the Holocaust, and assimilation on the family. In addition to also
writing And the Bridge Is Love and A Leak in the Heart, Moskowitz
is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine and is an
associate professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at George
Washington University. Admission is $5, with Central Market offering boxed
lunches for an additional $5.
* Storyteller Rafe Martin, a previous winner of the Parent’s Choice Gold Awards
for his books and tapes and a featured presenter at last year’s American
Library Association National Convention, will make two appearances at the fair
— one targeted at adults and one at children. The adults’ show will feature
Martin’s original stories and the presentation of Japanese, Native American,
and Iataka tales on Saturday at Beth Israel. Tickets are $5 for the 7:30pm
show. On Sunday, Martin will host the “All Kids Day Storyfest ’95” from 2-5pm
at Webb Middle School (601 E. St. Johns Ave). Storyfest, $1.50 for children and
free for adults, will feature food, music, costumes, puppets, dance, and crafts
with showcases centered on African American, Hispanic, Native American,
Chinese, and Jewish culture.
* Peggy Orenstein will speak about the confidence gap between adolescent girls
and boys, the subject of her book SchoolGirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem and
the Confidence Gap, at the Austin Diagnostic Medical Center Monday.
Admission is $5 for the 7:30pm lecture. Orenstein, the former managing editor
of Mother Jones magazine, has been published in the New York
Times, Vogue, Glamour, and The New Yorker.
* Austinite Hyman Samuelson will close out the fair on Wednesday, with a
discussion based on Samuelson’s World War II diaries, the subject of Love,
War and the 96th Engineers (Colored): The World War II New Guinea Diaries of
Captain Hyman Samuelson. Samuelson’s lecture and book centers around the
experiences of a young, white, Southern Jewish officer in charge of
African-American troops, and chronicles race relations on a segregated labor
battalion. Admission is $5 for the 7:30pm lecture.
At all Book Fair events, books will be on sale 30 minutes prior to and
immediately following the event. Call 331-1144 for additional information.
— Andy Langer
This article appears in November 10 • 1995 and November 10 • 1995 (Cover).