The Koffler Centre of the Arts presents Man Booker Prize-winning British author Howard Jacobson at the International Festival of Authors. Jacobson will be interviewed by Dan Friedman, managing editor of the Forward, and will read from his latest work, Zoo Time. Harbourfront Centre, Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W. Sunday, Oct. 28, 12 noon. $18, $15. American Michael Chabon, author of Telegraph Avenue, is also at this year’s IFOA, which runs Oct. 18 to 28. www.readings.org
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Nazi Hunter: Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company’s production of Nazi Hunter: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, written and performed by Tom Dugan, continues through Oct. 18 at the Studio Theatre, Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge St. Upcoming productions of this impressive company include Over the Rainbow, about the American composer Harold Arlen, on Nov. 3; The Whipping Man, about an American Jewish family and two former Negro slaves in the post-Civil War era (opens next March); Falsettos, about a Jewish father in 1979 who leaves his family for another man (opens next April). 416-733-0545, www.hgjewishtheatre.com
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The Taubens on Montreal Synagogues: Friends of Yiddish presents “History Detective: Tracking Synagogues, Discovering a Community,” featuring Sara Ferdman Tauben and Evelyn Tauben. Author of Traces of the Past, Montreal’s Early Synagogues, Sara discusses (in Yiddish and English) her decade-long investigation into the locations of Montreal’s early synagogues.
Beth Tikvah Synagogue, 3080 Bayview Ave. Sunday, Oct. 21, 2 p.m. Members free, guests $5; refreshments. RSVP by Oct. 18 to Sandy at 416-736-8073 or email: [email protected]
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The Mayne Event: Besides being a professor of Canadian literature, Canadian studies and creative writing at the University of Ottawa, poet Seymour Mayne is the author of numerous volumes of poetry including his latest, Ricochet: Word Sonnets, as well as a recent collection of stories, The Old Blue Couch and Other Stories. He is giving a reading in Toronto next week at the launch of the latest issue of the White Wall Review. Arts & Letters Club, 14 Elm St. Tuesday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.
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Free Thinking Film Festival: Numerous films of note are being shown in Ottawa at the ambitious third annual Free Thinking Film Festival, including Why Is It Hate? Why Singling Out and Demonizing Israel at Gay Pride is Hateful, produced by my brother, Martin Gladstone. To be shown at the same screening, the Israeli film The Invisible Men tells the story of persecuted gay Palestinians who run away from their families to live illegally in Tel Aviv.
The Rescuers traces the journey of Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist who teams up with Sir Martin Gilbert to interview survivors and descendants of the diplomats who rescued thousands of Jews from the Nazi death camps. Israel Inside: How A Small Nation Makes a Big Difference tells how Israel turned a desert with hardly any natural resources into a flourishing and productive society.
Also on the schedule is Walking With Destiny, a documentary about Winston Churchill; Hitler, Stalin and I, about Prague-born Holocaust survivor Heda Margolius Kovaly; Their Eyes Were Dry, a U.S. and Israeli-made documentary about the 1974 Ma’alot massacre in which terrorists took more than 100 Israeli students hostage. The festival takes place Nov. 1 to 4. Many more films are being screened. www.freethinkingfilmfest.ca
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At the Galleries: Lea Vogel was a Polish-Jewish refugee sent as a child to Tehran in 1942, then to Palestine before there was an Israeli state. A Holocaust survivor, Vogel died last March but left behind a collection of bronze, ceramic, glass, engraving and print works. Lea Vogel: A Life in Art, A Child of Tehran, is on view at the MJG Gallery, 555 Parliament St., Nov. 6 to 30. Opening reception, Nov. 8, 6 to 10 p.m. 416-923-4031.
• The Toronto Watercolour Society’s AquaVision show is at the J. D. Carrier Art Gallery in the Columbus Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave. W., Nov. 7 to 19. One of the pieces on display will be Rina Gottesman’s A Subtle Walk on the Road to Happiness, an abstract acrylic painting that is the show’s gold-medal winner. The child of Holocaust survivors, Gottesman was born in Israel and lived briefly in Brazil before coming to Canada with her family as a young child. She has been painting since an early age. Meet her at the artists’ reception, Nov. 8, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
• Out of the Blue: A Father’s Inspiration, an exhibition of paintings by Toronto artist Bina Cole, is on view at the Joseph D. Carrier Gallery, Columbus Centre, to Nov. 5. 416-789-7011, ext. 300, www.carriergallery.com
• Erica Brisson’s Local Colour Info Centre continues at the Koffler Gallery Off-Site at Miracle Thieves, 249 Crawford St. (at Dundas) to Nov. 11. www.kofflerarts.org
