Monday begins the two-week 23rd annual Jewish Book Festival at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor. This year's event will be the largest they've had so far, with some new components added. All author presentations are free and open to the community. There are 18 scheduled events, which averages to more than one per day. With that much activity, there's bound to be something of interest for everyone!

The festival opens Monday night with a presentation by Joan Nathan, author of "Quiches, Kugels and Couscous." The event will be moderated by Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman's Deli. In addition to food, other topics addressed throughout the festival include sports (Andrei Markovits, Lars Rensmann, and Ethan Zohn), humor (Sam Hoffman), and the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict (Jonathan Schneer). There are memoirs (Martin Fletcher and Katherine Rosman), as well as numerous fiction writers.

Mimi Weisberg, the Cultural Arts and Education Director of the Jewish Community Center, said she and the committee which organized the event worked hard toward creating a festival that would include "high quality exemplary programming for not only the Jewish community but the community at large, and to provide a variety of topics that were thought provoking and interesting."

On Nov. 2, Marilyn Berger presents "This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes" for the festival's Tikkun Olam event. Tikkun olam is the value of making the world a better place. It is a quality the author and the subject exemplify. As a further effort to recognize this value, the Jewish Community Center requests that guests bring two canned good items to donate to Food Gatherers for this particular event.

On Nov. 14, Zohn, another author who embodies tikkun olam, will present his book "Soccer World: South Africa - Explore the World through Soccer." Zohn is perhaps most famous for having won the third season of the television series "Survivor." He is a co-founder of the non-profit organization Grassroot Soccer and a motivational speaker.

Also on the last day of the event is a local author luncheon, with nine authors in attendance. The event will be moderated by University of Michigan MFA creative writing professor Eileen Pollack.

On Nov. 9, two events in commemoration of Kristallnacht will take place. Michael Hirsh presents his book "The Liberators," which focuses on U.S. soldiers' accounts of WWII and how they were impacted by what they lived and saw. That evening there is a film showing of "No. 4 Street of Our Lady". This film is a portrayal of Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish-Catholic woman who aided in rescuing her Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust.

These are a few of the events taking place. In addition to readings, there are also lunch events, scheduled sporadically throughout. Tickets for any of these can be purchased in advance. For a complete schedule and full descriptions, visit the Jewish Community Center's website. Throughout the event, Nicola's Books will provide books available for purchase.

The event is supported by the Fred and Ned Shure Endowment, as well as many local community organizations, businesses and individuals, including major gifts from Four Points Sheraton and Simply Scrumptious Catering.