Jewish Book Festival
MAY IS CANADIAN JEWISH HERITAGE MONTH
WE ARE PROUD TO BE PART OF OUR JCC FESTIVAL OF JEWISH CULTURE!
CARYL EVE DOLINKO / A Woman’s Guide to World Travel
THURSDAY MAY 14, 2:00pm
GET TICKETS – $10
with CIRCLE OF FRIENDS FOR WOMEN 55+
Vancouver author and lifelong adventurer Caryl Eve Dolinko presents the definitive guide for women who want to travel boldly and safely – anywhere in the world. Whether you are solo travellers, friends travelling together, women with partners, mothers on the move, professionals abroad, or travellers with special needs, this is a must-have for women of all ages and backgrounds. Dolinko offers practical advice on planning, packing, budgeting, health, safety, harassment, etiquette, and more. Blending guidebook and memoir, it includes checklists and stories from nearly 100 countries. Travel with confidence, awareness, and joy.
CARYL DOLINKO has co-authored two travel books, and has been featured in more than 400 media interviews, tv, radio, and speaking engagements.
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND THE AUTHOR WILL BE SIGNING.
ADEENA SUSSMAN / Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes
TUESDAY MAY 19, 4:00pm PT ( 7:00pm ET )
VIRTUAL EVENT PRESENTED BY HADASSAH USA/CANADA
REGISTER HERE – FREE
For Adeena Sussman, the kitchen is an island of calm: A place where she can center her mind, set the rules, and create a daily haven of deliciousness through her cooking. These days, she finds herself embracing the mantra “when the going gets tough, the cooking gets easy”; a smoother, more streamlined cooking approach embodied in the Hebrew word, zariz, or “quick.” This pared-down style doesn’t mean sacrificing the rhythms, sounds, and sensory pleasures we experience while preparing vibrant, exciting, yet simple recipes. Instead, it has led her to rely on fewer pots and pans, fewer highly versatile ingredients to create maximum flavour, and simple, thoughtful techniques that bring meals together effortlessly–always with her signature, flavour-forward style.
Most of the recipes contain fewer than 12 ingredients—not including olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemons, which are staples of Adeena’s Middle Eastern & Mediterranean-inspired dishes.
Food-world luminary Adeena Sussman is the New York Times bestselling author of Shabbat and Sababa cookbooks.
MARINA SONKINA / One Thousand and A Night: As Told by Larissa, Ukrainian Construction Shock Worker
TUESDAY MAY 12, 7:00pm – at Burquest Jewish Community Association
REGISTER HERE – by donation
The novel is both a comic and tragic saga of a Ukrainian-Russian-Jewish family, headed by the irreverent eighty-year-old Larissa, whose vitality and wit overcome all the hurdles thrown her way by the Soviet regime. Both lighthearted and dark, this tale of suffering and love takes us to Ukraine, Russia, Montenegro and Canada.
MARINA SONKINA is a scholar, a former CBC producer, and the author of six collections of short stories. She teaches at SFU in the Liberal Arts Program 55+.
BOOKS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND THE AUTHOR WILL BE SIGNING.
CAROL MATAS / Kai and the Golem (llustrated by Elisa Vavouri)
and Storm Unleashed
TUE & WED, MAY 5 & 6 – at the Vancouver Talmud Torah School
VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS
Kai and the Golem for grades 1-2
Rain in the morning makes Kai say, “That’s not what I want!” After school, he wants to read stories with Bubbe, but she isn’t there. “That’s not what I want!” says Kai. Maybe, he thinks, there’s a creature that makes bad things happen. Could it be a Golem,
big and scary? But maybe things aren’t so bad if you look at them in a different way…
A Storm Unleashed (for gr. 6-7)
A gripping tale about a girl and her dog set in Berlin during the lead up to WWII. It’s 1935 and life changed radically for Mia and her Jewish father, with antisemitism now official state policy. After a girl from the Nazi Youth tries to take Max, her beloved German Shepherd dog, life becomes even more dangerous for Mia and her veterinarian father — who is now being forced to help the Nazis train Hitler’s army of dogs.
CAROL MATAS is the internationally acclaimed award-winning author of over 50 books for children and young adults. Her work has been translated into numerous languages.
About the JCC Jewish Book Festival
The Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival is a community-wide event that brings together prominent and emerging Jewish writers and non-Jewish writers on Jewish subject matter.
JBF Program-2025-DIGITAL
PAST FESTIVAL PROGRAMS –2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
Author Submissions
The JCC Jewish Book Festival’s mandate is to showcase Jewish writers or non-Jewish writers with Jewish interest subject matter. Submissions information for the 2025 Festival – click here
Sponsorship Opportunities
The JCC Jewish Book Festival can help you maximize your message to a diverse demographic audience. Corporate and individual Sponsorships are available. Please phone 604-257-5156 or email jbf@jccgv.bc.ca