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Event Topic: Family & Relationships

  • Back from the Brink: The Impact of PTSD

    Back from the Brink: The Impact of PTSD

    Drawing on powerful stories of institutional abuse, Holocaust survival, incarceration and active military combat, this panel examines the lasting impact of trauma on identity, relationships and family. Guided by esteemed traumatologist Dr Paul Valent, the discussion will explore the causes and consequences of PTSD, the complex journey towards healing, and the vital role of storytelling in deepening understanding, seeking justice and fostering hope.

    **Speakers:** Simon Feldman, Alicia Leigh, Yishay Ishi Ron, Ilana Snyder – participating moderator, Paul Valent

  • Telling the Untold: From War-Torn Europe to Post-War Australia

    Telling the Untold: From War-Torn Europe to Post-War Australia

    Raya Goldtwig, Jonathan Kanat, Fiona Kelmann, Joe Reich – moderator Daniel Haumschild

    Ninety-year-old Raya Goldtwig recounts her childhood and her family’s desperate wartime measures, as if it were yesterday. By contrast, Joe Reich must embark on a forensic search to uncover his father’s Holocaust experience. Jonathan Kanat reveals how secrets from the Holocaust reverberate with devastating impact, long after his mother has settled in Melbourne. And Fiona Kelmann edits her grandmother’s memoir, as well as taking on the sacred role of scribe for another survivor. In telling these Holocaust stories, all four Melbourne-based authors have ensured that we will never forget.

  • Death, Grief and Finding the Light

    Death, Grief and Finding the Light

    In this soul-searching session, Joanne Fedler recounts her mother’s dying months during Covid, her mercy dash to be with her in South Africa, and the pull of the sea. Katia Ariel paints the remarkable life of deathworker, community builder, and cultural archivist, Ephraim Finch, with profound insight. And esteemed author, Andrea Goldsmith, reaches new heights with The Buried Life, her latest novel that centres on death while grappling with the conundrums of life.

    **Speakers:** Katia Ariel, Joanne Fedler, Andrea Goldsmith – moderator Magdalena Ball

  • Romancing the Novel

    Romancing the Novel

    Romance has arrived! From historical romance to contemporary romance, and dark romance to ‘romantasy’, to a climax of everything in between, this much-anticipated session will bring it all together. Book-tokking sensation Charlotte Hayward joins best-selling Rom Com duo, Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus, and trauma-romance expert, Alicia Leigh in this sensationally saucy exposé of books that will make you swoon.

    **Speakers:** Ali Berg, Michelle Kalus, Charlotte Hayward, Alicia Leigh – moderator Jessica Bellamy

  • Remnants: When The Past Comes Home

    Remnants: When The Past Comes Home

    THIS EVENT is proudly supported by:

    Sophie Stern, Joseph Toltz, Michael Visontay – moderator Benjamin Preiss

    Estranged sisters are forced to reckon with their wounds when they inherit their grandmother’s dilapidated home; a rare and fragile booklet of Holocaust songs is almost discarded when found deep in a cupboard; and an obscure legal document in a strongbox leads to a trail of leaves from the Gutenberg bible. In this session, a novelist, a musicologist and a journalist traverse the real and fictitious, to uncover remarkable stories in which physical remnants ‘speak’ from the past.

  • International Spotlight: Ayelet Tsabari in Conversation with Lee Kofman

    International Spotlight: Ayelet Tsabari in Conversation with Lee Kofman

    Ayelet Tsabari is the acclaimed, Israeli-Canadian author of best-selling memoir, The Art of Leaving. Her debut novel, Songs for the Broken-Hearted – a sweeping, multigenerational saga of love, loss and reconnection and the complex history of Yemeni Jews – is a winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Fiction, the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award and A Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024.
    Ayelet is in conversation with Lee Kofman, Russian-born Israeli-Australian author of six books and editor of three anthologies. Lee is a writing teacher and mentor based in Melbourne.

  • Writing Lives: Michael Visontay on ‘Noble Fragments’

    Writing Lives: Michael Visontay on ‘Noble Fragments’

    Noble Fragments by Michael Visontay tells the fascinating story of how a rare book dealer in the 1920s took apart a Gutenberg Bible and sold its pages individually—an act that shocked the literary world. Decades later, this decision would play an unexpected role in Visontay’s own family history, helping them rebuild their lives after fleeing post-war Hungary. Blending history and personal memoir, the book explores how seemingly small events can have lasting and life-changing consequences.

  • Raheen cocktail soiree: Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier and Alma Zygier

    Raheen cocktail soiree: Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier and Alma Zygier

    A life in music, a life in song, a life in the public eye, a life as child, a mother, a Jew and a Zionist and always a truth telling iconoclast…

    Melbourne Jewish Book Week is proud to present this exclusive event at Raheen, featuring Deborah Conway discussing her candid memoir, Book of Life with daughter and extraordinary vocalist, Alma Zygier. 

    Accomplished musician, Willy Zygier will be joining his wife and daughter on stage for a remarkable family performance. 

    Part interview, part concert, part therapy, this cocktail soiree offers a unique glimpse into the life of one of Australia’s most respected artists.

  • In conversation with Marina Benjamin: Secret Messengers – housework, sleepless nights and midlife crises

    In conversation with Marina Benjamin: Secret Messengers – housework, sleepless nights and midlife crises

    What do these experiences all have in common? They are times when uninvited introspection and reflection rise from the shadows to unsettle us. These are the deep waters in which British author and journalist Marina Benjamin bathes. Senior editor at Aeon, a digital magazine of ideas and culture, her insightful and lyrical writing deftly explores themes such as identity and memory. Her latest book is A Little Give. Marina will be in conversation with physician and author Leah Kaminsky, whose most recent novel is Doll’s Eye.

  • The Ultimate Betrayal: When children are prey

    The Ultimate Betrayal: When children are prey

    Since time immemorial, people in power have sought to take advantage of their innocent subjects. This is no more prevalent than within religious institutions, where the semblance of piety, coupled with the naivety of the young and faithful, provides a perfect cloak and cover for child sexual abuse. Michael Visontay discusses the ultimate betrayal with survivors from within the ultra orthodox Jewish community, Dassi Erlich and Manny Waks, as well as Anne Manne whose research covers a particularly sinister, pedophilic network within the Anglican church.