Poet Holender kicks off November, December book fair events
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

Barbara Holender

The Jewish Community Book Fair, as part of the Jewish Cultural Arts Festival, will continue through November and December.

Kicking off the month's events will be poet and Buffalo native Barbara Holender. Poems;" "Ladies of Genesis;" "Is This The Way to Athens?," which was the winner of the 1996 QRL Award; and "Ani Cli-zemer;" a children's book in Hebrew. Her newest book, "Our Last Best Perfect Day," was published in March 2007.

"I've been writing all my life. It's just my natural way of expression," Holender said. "Writing and publishing are two very different things. Publishing is sheer persistence and luck."

Holender will be speaking and reading poems from her various publications at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 1 at the JCC's Benderson Building, 2640 N. Forest Road.

Holender, whose first published piece appeared in the New York Times in 1957, noted that the personal, not confessional, nature of her poetry has allowed for a connection between herself and her readers.

"They're really stories of life travel," she said. Holender's books have been distributed locally mainly at Talking Leaves Bookstore. The independent

the through bookseller, she said, has been a good friend to her throughout her writing career.

"I don't deal with big booksellers," Holender said. "Jonathan Welch at Talking Leaves should really be commended."

Holender has held speaking engagements around the country and around the area at venues such as Hallwalls and the Burchfield-Penny Art Center.

Though she has just finished a book, she has another collection in the works.

"I'm a lazy poet," she said. "I don't write every day, but when I do I work very hard."

Though poetry has been a part of her life for its entirety, Holender noted that making a living on her work was never a reality.

"You don't make a living as a poet. You make a life." Other November and December book fair events are as follows.

• Vanessa Ochs will speak on her book, "Inventing Jewish Ritual," at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students.

• Dale Atkins and her co-author Barabara Scala will speak on their book, "Sanity Savers: Tips for Women to Live a Balanced Life," at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students.

• Rabbi Arthur Blecher will present "The New American Judaism" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students.

For more information on the book fair, call 688-4114.