Below is the press release that the AJL will be circulating to publicize the special authors' luncheon during the Convention on July 7. Please post it on your website and/or blog and forward it along to anyone you know who might be interested. A list of participating authors is appended. As you can see it is quite a diverse and impressive list we hope you will join us!
Rachel Kamin, Past Chair Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee The Association of Jewish Libraries 847/432-8903 x242 (work) 248/444-3292 (mobile) www.SydneyTaylorBookAward.org For more information, contact: Rachel Kamin, Planning Committee Association of Jewish Libraries Annual Convention (847) 432-8903 x242 rachelka...@gmail.com www.JewishLibraries.org May 2009 For immediate release MEDIA RELEASE LIBRARIANS' CONVENTION LUNCHEON FEATURES ILLINOIS AUTHORS Association of Jewish Libraries Serves Up Authors at Sheraton Chicago on July 7 (Chicago May 20, 2009) Teachers, librarians, educators and booklovers are invited to attend a gala Jewish Author Luncheon on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers at 12:00 noon. The event will feature over thirty-five authors and illustrators who create books for adults and children. A book signing and reception will follow the luncheon, which is being held in conjunction with the annual Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) national convention. During the luncheon and reception, authors and illustrators will circulate among the attendees to highlight their works, ranging from children's picture books, adult fiction and non-fiction, poetry, and short stories to cookbooks and scholarly works. Several of these authors will also present sessions during the AJL convention. On Monday, July 6, Esme Codell (Vive La Paris, Hanukkah Shmanukkah), Ilene Cooper (Sam I Am, Jewish Holidays All Year Round), Brenda Ferber (Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinaire, Julia's Kitchen), and Esther Hershenhorn (Chicken Soup By Heart) will explore "Writing the Jewish Children's Book" and Simone Elkeles (Perfect Chemistry, How to Ruin My Teenage Life) will discuss "Bat Mitzvah & Beyond: Jewish Girls Coming of Age in Fiction." On Tuesday, July 7, Peter Ascoli will speak about his book about his grandfather, Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South. Local authors will be joined by authors and illustrators from across the United States and Israel. Richard Michelson (Northampton, Massachusetts) and Raul Colon (New City, New York), author and illustrator of As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom, the 2009 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Reader, Aranka Siegal (Williams Island, Florida), author of Memories of Babi, the 2009 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner for Older Readers, and Anna Levine (Jerusalem, Israel), author of Freefall, the 2009 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner for Teen Readers, will all present during sessions on Tuesday, July 7 and will also be recognized during the awards banquet on Tuesday evening. Pearl Sofaer (San Francisco, California), author of Baghdad to Bombay: In the Kitchens of My Cousins, will speak about the gems of Mizrahi liturgy on Monday, July 6. "The AJL convention will draw over 200 Judaica librarians from synagogues, day schools, community centers, seminaries, universities, and research institutions from across North America and around the world," explains Rachel Kamin, a member of the local planning committee and chair of the Jewish Author Luncheon. "We want to showcase and celebrate the wealth of Jewish literary talent in the metropolitan Chicago community during the convention." Tickets for the Jewish Author Luncheon and Reception are available for $75.00 and include an elegant kosher meal and delicious dessert reception. Copies of the participating authors' works will be available for sale. To purchase tickets, or for more information about the Association of Jewish Libraries and its Chicago convention, contact Marcie Eskin atmjes...@comcast.net or (847) 676-1480, or visit www.jewishlibraries.org. # # # JEWISH AUTHOR LUNCHEON & RECEPTION at the Annual Convention of the Association of Jewish Libraries Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 12:00 Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers PARTICIPATING AUTHORS: Peter Ascoli (Julius Rosenwald) Marlene Brill (Annie Walks Out) Rosalind Charney Kaye (Sophie and the Shofar, Chanukah on the Prairie) Esme Codell (Vive La Paris, Hanukkah Shmanukkah) Raul Colon (As Good As Anybody) Ilene Cooper (Sam I Am, Jewish Holidays All Year Round) Julia Durango (The Walls of Cartagena, Pest Fest, Yum Yuck) Simone Elkeles (Perfect Chemistry, How to Ruin My Teenage Life) Aaron Elster (I Still See Her Haunting Eyes) Brenda Ferber (Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinaire, Julia's Kitchen) Laura Frankel (Jewish Cooking for All Seasons) Leslie Goldman (Locker Room Diaries) Carol Grannick ("Pasha's First Yom Kippur," Highlights, October 2008) Steven Harper (Straddling Worlds, Crossing Hoffa) Charlotte Herman (My Chocolate Year, How Yussel Caught the Gefilite Fish) Esther Hershenhorn (Chicken Soup By Heart) Jerry Jacover (Merkle's Curse: Why the Chicago Cubs Have Not Won a World Series Since 1908) Jane Kaplan (Interfaith Families: Personal Stories of Jewish-Christian Intermarriage) Pnina Moed Kass (Real Time) Joanne Koch (Shared Stages: Ten American Dramas of Blacks and Jews) Isaac Levendel (Not the Germans Alone) Abby Levine (This is the Dreidel, This Is the Matzah) Anna Levine (Freefall, Jodie's Hanukkah Dig) Jenny Meyerhoff (Third Grade Baby, The Impossible Secrets of Essie Green) Richard Michelson (As Good As Anybody, A is for Abraham) Miriam Nerlove (Shabbat, Purim, Passover, Hanukkah) Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern (Jews in the Russian Army 1827-1917, Anti-imperial Choice: The Making of the Ukrainian Jew) Barbara Powers (The Promise) Renee Rosen (Every Crooked Pot) Chaya Roth (The Fate of Holocaust Memories) Walter Roth (Avengers and Defenders) Ava Schieber (Soundless Roar: Stories, Poems, and Drawings) Aranka Siegel (Memories of Babi, Upon the Head of the Goat) Pearl Sofaer (Baghdad to Bombay: In the Kitchens of My Cousins) Ruth Spiro (Lester Fizz, Bubble Gum Artist) April Halprin Wayland (New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story) --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org