May 19, 2019 - Jewish Book Festival: letters, books and personalities, from the Renaissance to David Grossman

Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah – MEISHOP (Via Piangipane, 81 – Ferrara)

PROFILES OF ITALIAN JEWS – free admission

9:30 a.m. Gabriella Steindler Moscati, La mia vita incisa nell’arte. Una biografia di Emma Dessau Goitein (Mimesis, Milan, 2018). The author speaks with the art historian Martina Corgnati

10:15 a.m. Marcella Filippa, Rita Levi Montalcini. La signora delle cellule (Pacini Fazzi, Lucca, 2018). The author speaks with the geneticist and writer Guido Barbujani

11:00 a.m. Marta Nicolo, Un impegno controcorrente: Umberto Terracini e gli ebrei, 1945-1983 (Zamorani, Torino, 2018). The author speaks with Fausto Ciuffi, Director of Fondazione Villa Emma

Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah – MEISHOP (Via Piangipane, 81 – Ferrara)

TWO LITERARY CASES – free admission

11:30 a.m. Giovanni Grasso, Il caso Kaufmann (Rizzoli, Milano, 2019). The author speaks with the historian Anna Foa

12:30 a.m. Alain Elkann, Anita (Bompiani, Milan, 2019). The author speaks with the art critic Vittorio Sgarbi

Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah – Garden of Questions (Via Piangipane, 81 – Ferrara)

3:30 p.m. FORBIDDEN BOOKS – free admission

Inauguration of the work by artist Manlio Geraci, curated by Ermanno Tedeschi: 774 burned books represent the 774 deportees who left for to Auschwitz with on the first train that left from track 21 of Milan Central Station

Municipal Theater of Ferrara (Corso Martiri della Libertà, 5)

5:00 p.m. DAVID GROSSMAN: MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HEBREW

Conversation with Simonetta Della Seta, Director of MEIS

The Israeli author reveals how his characters are shaped by the Hebrew language (interview in English with translation)

Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (Via Piangipane, 81 – Ferrara)

MUSEUM OPEN NON-STOP 9:00 a.m.– 6:00 p.m.

On the occasion of the Jewish Book Festival, MEIS will be open from 9:00 a.m.to 6:00 p.m. with the exhibit The Renaissance Speaks Hebrew and the permanent exhibit Jews, an Italian story. The first thousand years, the multimedia show Through the Eyes of the Italian Jews, which provides an introduction to the themes dealt with by MEIS, the totems in The Realm of Questions, the Garden of Questions — that help one understand kasherut, the Jewish dietary laws — and the docufilm We were Italians, presenting testimony from survivors of the Shoah

The Jewish Book Festival is organized in collaboration with the Municipal Theater of Ferrara and under the patronage of the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Municipality of Ferrara, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities and the Jewish Community of Ferrara