Novelist Joyce Carol Oates will give the keynote address at Litquake Palo Alto, the annual Bay Area book festival that returns to the Oshman Family JCC this year. The free event, featuring a number of Jewish writers among its lineup of guest speakers and discussion leaders, runs from 3 to 8 p.m. March 13 at the Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way.
Among the Jewish authors appearing this year are Moment Magazine editor Nadine Epstein, who wrote “Mysteries of the Cairo Codex,” an exploration of one of the oldest surviving Jewish texts. Shawn Lichaa, Bay Area author of “As It Is Written: A Brief Case for Karaism,” will be on hand to talk about his Karaite roots.
Other Jewish authors at Litquake include Joyce Maynard, children’s author Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler), Nancy L. Cohen, Wes “Scoop” Nisker, Keith Raffel and Ellen Ullman. The lineup also includes food writer Diane Jacob and NPR radio host Rick Kleffel.
Co-sponsors of Litquake include the Palo Alto Library, Palo Alto Online and the Moldaw Residences. For more information, see www.paloaltojcc.org