The Greenberg Families Library at the Soloway JCC is holding its inaugural Book Festival on October 23, 24, and 26. With several authors from Ottawa and beyond coming to speak over the course of several days, attendees will have much to look forward to during this exciting event.

The festival is made possible through the support of a Jewish Federation of Ottawa Microgrant and the Congregation Beth Shalom Legacy Fund. Partners include Kehillat Beth Israel’s Malca Pass Library, the Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies at Carleton University, the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society, the Sephardi Association of Ottawa, and the Jewish Youth Library of Ottawa.

Festival organizer and Greenberg Families Library librarian Carlie MacPherson has long dreamt of this moment.

“I've wanted to put on a book festival since I started working here,” she said. “This was the first year that it was feasible to do it.”

Alongside author talks, attendees can expect book signings, meet-and-greets, a curated book market, and even a self-publishing workshop. The event will also be catered, making it a true community celebration.

While the original concept wasn’t specifically Jewish in focus, conversations with participating authors shifted the theme.

“As we continued planning it and hearing from authors about some of the struggles that they've had over the last two years, it became a more important thing, especially touching on things like Jewish life post October 7,” MacPherson said.

One of the local authors speaking at the event is Barbara Fradkin. Well-known for her gripping mystery stories, Fradkin has written dozens of short stories and novels over the last 30 years.

Her Inspector Green series, loosely based on the work of her late husband, a lawyer at the Department of Justice, is based in and around Ottawa. Having lived in the city with her family for the last several decades, both the city and her experiences with Jewish culture through her husband and children have greatly impacted her.

“My husband’s voice was very much in my mind when I wrote the Inspector Green series,” said Fradkin. “My husband died quite young when I was … early on in my career. I hadn’t published any of my novels by the time he died, but the first one came out shortly thereafter.”

The most recent addition to the Inspector Green series, Shipwrecked Souls, tells the story of a Ukrainian-Jewish woman who recently immigrated to Ottawa and was murdered.

In addition to the talk she will be giving, her books will be available for purchase and signing. Her works, along with those of several other participating authors, will be available for purchase throughout the event.

Other local authors include poet Daniel Goodwin (Catullus’s Soldiers, The Great Goldbergs) and children’s book author Sheila Baslaw (The Light Keeper). The diversity of authors’ works to be presented at the festival will have something for everyone’s tastes.

Attendance is open to the community, with details about the festival schedule and ticketing available by clicking here.