Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life: Celebrating Jewish Arts and Bookfest

On May 4, 2025, the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life swelled with energy as 300 people packed the building on Allston Way in Downtown Berkeley to learn from and engage with more than 30 artists, authors, and curators during the museum’s inaugural Jewish Arts & Bookfest. Presented in partnership with New Lehrhaus, the J., and the Jewish Community Library and with support from other community and UC Berkeley campus partners, the full-day event brought together community members from across the Bay Area in celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.

During the events, prominent Bay Area writers spoke about their work. Flora Ninomiya delivered profound testimony of her and her Japanese American family’s separation and incarceration, as well as the support they received from “people of conscience,” during Josh Tuininga’s book talk. Tuininga’s graphic novel We Are Not Strangers is based on his Sephardic grandfather’s allyship with Japanese Americans in Seattle during World War II. The audience was treated to a wide-ranging, thought-provoking conversation with the renowned children’s book author Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snicket), who reflected on the influence of his Holocaust survivor family’s background and “talking about books with the People of the Book.” Other presentations included a panel of Russian-Jewish writers on “War and Peace,” a cookbook talk and tasting by Jeff Morgan of Covenant Wines, a memoir-comics workshop for teens, and much much more!