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MIAMI (October 13, 2026) – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Book Fair (MBF), the nation’s longest-running literary festival, has announced its 2026 Jewish Life & Culture program, sponsored by the Stacey and Eric Mindich Fund for Jewish Studies and part of the annual Fair taking place Nov. 15-22 at Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. This year’s lineup features bestselling authors, journalists, award-winning historians and cultural icons exploring themes of identity, faith, memory and contemporary Jewish life.
“Jewish stories can be funny, personal, difficult and surprising, sometimes all at once,” said Lissette Mendez, executive director of Miami Book Fair. “I love that this lineup gives people so many ways into the conversation. You can come to hear an author you already know and leave having discovered someone new.”
The program opens Sunday, Nov. 15, with an Evenings With conversation between bestselling author, publisher and podcaster Zibby Owens, moderated by local author Rochelle B. Weinstein. Owens, founder of Zibby Media and editor of “On Being Jewish Now: Reflections from Authors and Advocates,” will discuss her new essay collection, “Between Chapters: How I Started Over, Took Some Chances, and Found the Plot.” An Evenings With conversation follows Tuesday, Nov. 17, when comedian, actor and photographer Jeff Garlin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Goldbergs”) joins former “Seinfeld” writer Peter Mehlman to discuss his photography book, “Best Seat in the House: Moments No One Asked Me to Capture… But I Did Anyway, featuring candid photographs and personal stories from his life on and offstage.”
The lineup also includes an Evenings With conversation Wednesday, Nov. 18, featuring Rick Sopher, co-author of “Illuminating Scriptural Connections: A Qur’anic Commentary on the Torah,” and historian Marc David Baer, author of “Children of Abraham: The 1,400-Year History of Jewish-Muslim Relations.” The event is free, but a ticket is required.
Several programs explore Israel, history and current events. Jerusalem-based journalist Matti Friedman (“Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe”) joins historian Simon Sebag Montefiore (“The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East”) In a separate conversation, sponsored by Tilia, Miami’s own U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman discusses his New York Times bestseller “Israel on Trial: Examining the History, the Evidence, and the Law,” joined by Brett McGurk, former White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa and author of “Brink,” an account of the negotiations to free hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Other conversations bring together Israeli novelists Noa Yedlin (“House Arrest”) and Zeruya Shalev (“Fate”) presented by Hadassah Magazine and moderated by Executive Editor Lisa Hostein; David Mazower (“Yiddish: A Global Culture: Bold Lives, Boundless Creativity”) with the Yiddish Book Center’s Lisa Newman and fellow panelist Mark Glanville; and Alicia Jo Rabins (“When We’re Born We Forget Everything”), Zeeva Bukai (“The World Between”), Portia Elan (“Homebound”), and local cartoonist Drew Lerman, who will do live illustrations, for a Jewish Book Council literary mixtape, moderated by JBC CEO Naomi Firestone-Teeter.
Historian Steven J. Ross (“The Secret War Against Hate”) and investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau (“American Reich”) will discuss American antisemitism and extremism; and Catherine Ostler (“The Renoir Girls: A Hidden History of Art, War & Betrayal”) and Doreen Carvajal (“The Girl in Blue: Renoir’s Portrait of a Dynasty Erased”) will explore the lives of a French Jewish family whose children were painted by Renoir, tracing their stories through war, persecution and the Nazi looting of art..
Additional authors appearing throughout the Fair include Adam Mansbach (“The Wrong Body: A Golem of Brooklyn Novel”), Ian Buruma (“Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945”), Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein (“The Two Saddest Kitchens: A Comics Conversation”), Annabelle Gurwitch (“The End of My Life is Killing Me”), Galit Atlas (“Come Closer”), Hannah Lillith Assadi (“Paradiso 17”) and Eliot Glazer (“The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Gay”).
Also appearing are Jonathan Jakubowicz (“The Adventures of Juan Planchard”), Jessica Brilliant Keener (“Evening Begins the Day”), and David Baerwald (“The Fire Agent”). Jewish romance comes from Lauren Appelbaum (“The Holiday House Swap,” a Hanukkah romance). Younger readers can meet Cuban-born, award-winning author Ruth Behar, who presents “Picadillo for Paulina,” co-written with her son, Gabriel Frye-Behar. Adam Mansbach and W. Kamau Bell bring their picture book, “Rock Paper Scissors Cheese.”
For more information about these author events and the Jewish Life & Culture program, visit https://www.miamibookfair.com, call 305-237-3258, or email wbookfair@mdc.edu. Follow @miamibookfair on social media. #MBF2026 #MiamiReads
About Miami Book Fair
Founded in 1984 by Miami Dade College and partners, Miami Book Fair engages the community through inclusive, accessible programs that promote reading and support writers year-round. The annual eight-day festival has grown into the largest and most comprehensive community-rooted literary gathering in the United States, generating discourse on contemporary literature and current issues of international importance. Year-round programming includes The Little Haiti Book Festival; creative writing and publishing workshops; author presentations; reading campaigns; and Books for Free, a partnership with The Children’s Trust that distributes more than 150,000 free books annually to children in Miami-Dade County.
Miami Book Fair programming is made possible through generous support from the State of Florida, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Miami, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Miami Downtown Development Authority, and Friends of the Fair, as well as media and corporate partners.
Miami Book Fair Media Contacts:
Rachel Pinzur, Pinzur Communications | 305.725.2875, rachel@pinzurPR.com
Cristina Fonseca, Pinzur Communications | 561.644.1726, cfonseca@pinzurPR.com