The Sydney Jewish Writers Festival ran from 21-25 August 2024 at the Bondi Pavilion. We gathered against a backdrop of stunning ocean views to explore, speak, listen, write and dream. This year’s program theme was Genesis, SJWF 2024 was a true celebration of Jewish creativity, writing, authors, art and ideas. The Festival culminated with the inaugural Australian Jewish Book Awards and celebration of the shortlisted and winning authors.

For the first time, SJWF included two ‘Writers in Residence’ who attended sessions of their choosing. We hope you enjoy this session recap from our writer in residence, Lee Kofman.

Family Legacy to Bestseller: Linda Margolin Royal, Elana Benjamin and Julia Levitina interviewed by Scott Whitmont

One of my festival highlights was Family Legacy to Bestseller with the historical novelists Julia Levitina and Linda Margolin Royal, and essayist and cookbook author Elana Benjamin, chaired beautifully by Scott Whitmont.

It was inspiring and educational being taken by these writers into communities and historical events we hear little about. Elana’s cookbook is also a history of the small community of Indian-Iraqi Jews living in Australia now – their singular history and cuisine. Julia told the story that my family shares too – that of the Soviet dissidents. And Linda fictionalised the little known story of a Japanese diplomat who saved lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.

The common thread running between all these very different stories and storytellers was how relevant these histories of antisemitism are to what is happening to Jewish people today in the post October 7 world, and also the importance of making history vivid for readers be this through food or compelling plots. As Linda said towards the end, when she was writing her book during lockdowns, she didn’t realise ‘how much the themes of persecution and antisemitism will be relevant again when the book was published.’

Photo credit: Giselle Haber