First hour: Rabbi Ariel Burger on his book, "Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom"
Second hour: Is short fiction gaining popularity?
The Rochester Jewish Book Festival kicked off this weekend, and we preview an upcoming talk with author and educator Rabbi Ariel Burger. Rabbi Burger was a student of writer, professor, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Rabbi Burger joins us to discuss his book, “Witness,” in which he shares the lessons he learned from Wiesel. We also discuss how those lessons can be applied in 2019. Our guests:
- Rabbi Ariel Burger, educator and author of “Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom”
- Stacey Freed, co-chair of the Rochester Jewish Book Festival
- Barbara Appelbaum, volunteer with the Rochester Jewish Book Festival, and former director of the Center Holocaust Awareness and Information at the Jewish Community Center
Then in our second hour, when is the last time you read a short story? Novelist Zadie Smith recently turned to short fiction, publishing her first collection of short stories last month. Is the popularity of the medium on the rise? Why are Smith and other authors turning to short stories? We discuss those questions with local short story writers and publishers, who share trends in the industry. In studio:
- Brian Wood, author of “Joytime Killbox”
- Peter Connors, publisher for BOA Editions
- Kristen Gentry, writer and associate professor of English and creative writing at SUNY Geneseo
