The Koffler @ IFOA! Sunday, October 23 - the day will focus on new books exploring Russian-Jewish stories
The Koffler @ IFOA!
Sunday, October 23, 2011 | 11 AM – 6 PM
$15 Koffler Envision & Authors Members (per event)
$18 General Public (per event)
Harbourfront Centre, Lakeside Terrace, 235 Queens Quay W.
The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) brings together the best writers of contemporary world literature for 12 days of readings, talks, discussions and public book signings. This year, the Koffler hosts a full day of conversations and gatherings with top Jewish authors from around the world. The day will focus on new books exploring Russian-Jewish stories as part of the kofflerkultura series, as well as new works in translation, the thematic focus of this year’s IFOA.
Tickets may be purchased directly from the International Festival of Authors
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SCHEDULE FOR THE KOFFLER @ IFOA
11 AM
When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone with Gal Beckerman, David Bezmozgis, and the Honourable Irwin Cotler.
Moderated by Lori Starr
1 PM
Found in Translation, Part 1 with Michal Govrin.
Found in Translation, Part 2 with Peter Filkins.
Moderated by Julia Creet.
3:30 PM
Writing Russian Roots with David Bezmozgis and Gary Shteyngart.
Moderated by Gal Beckerman.
5 PM
Meet and Greet book signing with all the authors and the 2011 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards.
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DETAILS FOR THE KOFFLER @ IFOA
When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone
At the end of World War II, three million Jews were trapped inside the Soviet Union. They lived a paradox—unwanted by a repressive Stalinist state, yet forbidden to leave. The award-winning first book by Gal Beckerman, When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone is the astonishing, inspiring story of the rescue of Soviet Jewry. He will be joined in conversation by author David Bezmozgis (whose latest novel The Free World, shortlisted for this year's Giller Prize, tells the story of a Jewish family escaping the Iron Curtain) and the Honourable Irwin Cotler, Member of Parliament, former Minister of Justice of Canada and prominent international human rights attorney. Cotler defended formerly imprisoned dissidents Nelson Mandela and Natan Sharansky, jailed in a Soviet gulag for Jewish activism. Moderated by the Koffler’s Executive Director, Lori Starr.
Writing Russian Roots
Acclaimed authors David Bezmozgis (Natasha and Other Stories, The Free World) and Gary Shteyngart (The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Super Sad True Love Story) both born in the former Soviet Union in the 70s, both moved to Toronto and New York respectively as children, and both mine their Russian-Jewish immigrant experiences in their writing. Conversation moderated by journalist Gal Beckerman, author of the definitive book on Soviet Jewry.
Presented as part of kofflerkultura.
Found in Translation: Michal Govrin
Award-winning Israeli novelist, poet and theatre director, Michal Govrin, was selected in 2010 by the Salon du Livre of Paris as one of the 30 most influential writers of the past thirty years. Govrin has published ten books of poetry and fiction with translations into both English and French. Her writing interweaves themes of memory, the sacred, identity, and loss, engaging with the Holocaust and the realities of life in Israel. She will address the inherent promise and challenges of translation: from one language to another, from one culture to another.
Presented together with the Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto.
Found in Translation: Panorama
The Holocaust fiction by Prague-born H.G. Adler was first “found” by acclaimed translator Peter Filkins in a Harvard bookshop. Published for the first time in English, Panorama is a superb rediscovered novel of the Holocaust by a neglected modern master and Filkins second translation of an Adler book.
Presented together with York University, English Dept. Generously supported by Amira and Michael Dan.
Found in Translation Parts 1 & 2 will be hosted by filmmaker and York University professor, Julia Creet. Specializing in memory studies, literary nonfiction, and sexuality studies, Creet is the co-editor (with Andreas Kitzmann) of Memory and Migration—multidisciplinary approaches to memory studies (University of Toronto Press 2010), and the producer and director of a documentary, “MUM,” (2008) about the memoirs of a holocaust survivor who tried to forget. A book of documentary fiction based on the same material, tentatively titled “The Unread Novel,” is in progress.
PLUS! Meet the Winners of the 2011 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards.
Buy new Jewish books, including a selection of titles in Hebrew and Russian, curated by the team of the Toronto Jewish Book Festival and available for one day only.
Date: October 23, 2011
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Harbourfront Centre, Lakeside Terrace, 235 Queens Quay W
Fees: $15 Koffler Envision & Authors Members | $18 General Public