From Wednesday 23 August to Sunday 27 August, the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival will host an array of emerging and established presenters. The Festival will host 20 live in-person events featuring more than 25 Australian-based speakers along with prominent international writers. These great minds will gather to discuss, dissect and explore this year’s Festival theme: Identity.

Events featuring David Baddiel:

Opening Night Wednesday 26 August: David Baddiel on Jews Don’t Count – are you on the right side of history?

• A panel discussion with David Baddiel at Randwick Ritz covering the big themes of Identity and Antisemitism (a JCA-partnered event)
• Saturday night 26 August: The Tragedy of Jewish Humour – a hilarious panel with David Baddiel
• David Baddiel, Robyn Reynolds, and a panel of leading Jewish Australian comedians. (Partnered with Matzah Productions, producers of the Jewish Comedy Showcase)

Sunday 27 August: Who Will Be For Us – unpacking antisemitism with David Baddiel & Alex Ryvchino DavidBaddieldiscussinghisbestsellingnon-fictionpolemicJewsDon’tCountwith Alex Ryvchin, who will be launching his book The Seven Deadly Myths.

Closing Night Sunday 27 August:

• The Sydney Jewish Writers Festival will close with David Baddiel discussing his latest work The God Desire.

David will headline for the Melbourne Jewish Book Week on Tuesday 22 August for one night only.

The Sydney Jewish Writers Festival will host exceptional talent. With the theme “Identity” as a starting point, session will cover a diverse range of topics from climate change to existentialism, holocaust and antisemitism, aging and the body to grief and laughter. Through conversations, poetry, music, comedy, a smattering of yoga and a string quartet for good measure – a festival not to be missed.

Festival Director Miriam Hechtman said: “At this year’s Sydney Jewish Writers Festival we welcome you to explore the word identity – from the personal to the cultural, the atlas to the mirror. With books as our compass and the beautifully refurbished Bondi Pavilion as our setting, we present you with an exceptional gathering of storytellers, thinkers and experts from Australia and abroad to speak to this theme. If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we need each other and we need to stay in conversation about what makes us tick. Books offer us the framework to converse, commune and create. This festival, we invite you to bring your curiosity, your ideas and your voice to this conversation.”

Dates: Wed 23 August – Sun 27 August
Pricing: Range from $15 – $40 per session
Booking: www.shalom.edu.au
Location: Wednesday night at the Randwick Ritz and Thursday – Sunday at The Bondi Pavilion.

For further information or to book tickets, visit www.shalom.edu.au or call 9381 4000. For the Melbourne event, visit https://mjbw.com.au/