{"id":1478,"date":"2018-12-31T17:26:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T17:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1478"},"modified":"2018-12-31T17:26:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T17:26:58","slug":"10-28-18-news-briefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1478","title":{"rendered":"10.28.18 News Briefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Annual Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jewish Book & Arts Festival runs November 3\u201313 in Houston<\/h1>\n

HOUSTON \u2014 From the inner workings of the TV industry to a staged reading of a Yiddish play,<\/span> the 2018 Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jewish Book & Arts Festival, at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, brings book lovers a variety of literary greats and their stories.<\/p>\n

The 46th annual festival kicks off Saturday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. with Nell Scovell,<\/span> writer, producer and director, talking about her memoir, Just the Funny Parts \u2026 and a Few Hard Truths about Sneaking into the Hollywood Boys\u2019 Club<\/span>. Scovell is known for her work on \u201cThe Simpsons,\u201d \u201cLate Night with David Letterman,\u201d \u201cNCIS\u201d and \u201cThe Muppets.\u201d Scovell created and was executive producer on \u201cSabrina the Teenage Witch.\u201d The second woman to write for Letterman, Scovell in 2009 publicly called out the lack of gender diversity in late-night TV. Her memoir follows an earlier collaboration on the bestselling book Lean In<\/span> with author and executive Sheryl Sandberg,<\/span> who wrote the foreword.<\/p>\n

The Nov. 3\u201313 festival features talks and events for literature fans, sports enthusiasts, theater-goers and history buffs. On Sunday, Nov. 11, at 4 p.m., Ben Reiter,<\/span> senior writer for Sports Illustrated, will discuss his new book, Astroball,<\/span> which tells the inside story of how a group of outsiders found a new way to win.<\/p>\n

Houston native Stephanie Wittels Wachs<\/span> will talk about her new book, Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love and Loss,<\/span> on Sunday, Nov. 11. at 7 p.m. The author\u2019s brother, Harris Wittels,<\/span> a comedian who wrote for TV\u2019s \u201cParks and Recreation,\u201d died from a heroin overdose.<\/p>\n

Rachel Kadish<\/span> is this year\u2019s featured author for the Community Read Program. Monday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m., Kadish will discuss The Weight of Ink,<\/span> a story about an unwell historian who has a passion for Jewish history and an emigrant from Amsterdam in the 1660s, who becomes a scribe for a blind rabbi.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m., there will be a staged reading of Issac Goldberg\u2019s<\/span> 1918 English translation of Sholem Asch\u2019s<\/span> controversial Yiddish play, \u201cG-d of Vengeance.\u201d The play tells the story of a family\u2019s efforts to leave behind a dark past so their daughter can marry into a local Jewish family. The Grammy-winning composer of the Klezmatics, Lisa Gutkin,<\/span> will perform her own work with local musicians Donald Jacobs<\/span> and Villie Schumann.<\/span> New music will be premiered at the event.<\/p>\n

New this year, Tablet<\/span> magazine will record its Unorthodox Podcast live from the Kaplan Theatre on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. The weekly podcast, hosted by Mark Oppenheimer, Stephanie Butnick,<\/span> and Liel Leibovitz,<\/span> offers a fun take on Jewish news and culture.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m., Catherine Price, <\/span>author of How To Break Up with Your Phone,<\/span> shares a plan for creating healthy habits for using technology. Local experts will join Price for a panel on technology and parenting.<\/p>\n

For more information and the complete schedule, please visit www.erjcchouston.org<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

(Information from organization\u2019s press release)<\/p>\n

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$50,000 Kirkus Prize winners announced in Austin<\/h1>\n

AUSTIN \u2013 Novelist Ling Ma, essayist Rebecca Solnit, and writer Derrick Barnes (along with illustrator Gordon C. James)<\/span> have won the fifth annual 2018 Kirkus Prizes, which were announced Thursday evening, October 25, at a celebration at Austin\u2019s Central Library. Each prize carries a cash award of $50,000.<\/p>\n

Ma won the fiction prize for Severance,<\/span> a pre- and post-apocalyptic debut novel. \u201cRefashioning post-apocalyptic tropes with exquisite craft, Ling Ma offers a portrait of our times \u2014 especially our fears,\u201d the judges \u2014 said author Sandra Cisneros;<\/span> editor, writer and Kirkus critic Jessica Jernigan;<\/span> and bookstore owner Angela Maria Spring<\/span> in a written statement. Severance is both a cutting critique of late-stage capitalism and the intensely affecting story of a young woman finding her place in her world. … It is a perfect novel for this moment, and an astonishing debut.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nonfiction prize was awarded to Solnit for Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays).<\/span> \u201cShe has an extraordinary ability to synthesize what would seem to be disparate issues and foster an expanded vision for examining our beliefs and actions,\u201d author Carina Chocano,<\/span> author and Kirkus critic Joseph Barbato<\/span>, and book buyer Sheryl Cotleur <\/span>wrote in their judges\u2019 comments.<\/p>\n

The young readers\u2019 literature award went to Barnes and James for Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut,<\/span> a joyful look at the world of the black barbershop. \u201cThis tour-de-force artistic statement extols to its audience the beauty and grace of being \u2018someone that matters,\u2019\u201d wrote judges Marie Lu,<\/span> an author; writer and Kirkus critic J. Alejandro Mazariegos;<\/span> and Kimberly A. Patton,<\/span> youth services supervisor at the main branch of the Kansas City, Kan., Public Library.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s fiction and nonfiction winners were chosen from the 1,193 titles that received a starred Kirkus review and were published between Nov. 1, 2017, and Oct. 31, 2018. The eligibility dates for the young readers\u2019 prize were Oct. 1, 2017, through Sept. 28, 2018.<\/p>\n

The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers\u2019 literature. It was created to celebrate eighty-five years of literary criticism from Kirkus Reviews.<\/p>\n

(Information from organization\u2019s press release and website)<\/p>\n

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