![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Debbie-Lee-opens-MJBW-300x200.jpg\")
Debbie Lee opens MJBW (photo: MJBW 2026)<\/p>\nIt has been another very successful year for Melbourne Jewish Book Week (MJBW).<\/p>\n
About 2,000 people attended the many outstanding MJBW events held at the Pullman Hotel in Albert Park this weekend.<\/p>\n
MJBW launched with a gala opening event at Glen Eira Town Hall on Saturday night. The evening featured music, humour and stories from an international cast of authors, including Rachel Cockerell, Yishay Ishi Ron, Ayelet Tsabari, Ali Berg, Danny Ben-Moshe, Katia Ariel, Alan Fyfe and Billy Albert.<\/p>\n
Debbie Lee, MJBW Festival Director, said in her opening speech, \u201cIt might sound clich\u00e9d, but through adversity we find strength, and Melbourne Jewish Book Week is a prime example of that.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s festival is an absolute bonanza in terms of ticket sales, authorship, panel sessions and the range of events. Our overriding theme is \u2018Connections\u2019\u2014connections to the past, to each other, to the broader community, to the future and to ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Debbie Lee opens MJBW (photo: MJBW 2026)<\/p>\n
Lee told JWire: \u201cThe opening session, with Jewish Quarterly essayist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib in a live Zoom conversation with Kylie Moore-Gilbert, set the stage for the program \u2026 and a crescendo finale, with bestselling journalist and author Jonathan Freedland joining live via Zoom from the UK for a conversation with Tali Lavi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday was filled with panel discussions and conversations on a wide variety of subjects, featuring authors from Australia and overseas. Topics included Hamas\u2019 rule of Gaza, the Holocaust across generations, contemporary Jewish fiction, quirky stories of Zionism, death and grief, speaking up in trying times, Nazi hunters, romance, history, humour and satire, creativity and AI, and many stories about books and writing.<\/p>\n
One particularly well-attended event on Sunday was the \u2018Upstanders Not Bystanders\u2019 session with Dr Erica Frydenberg, Lee Kofman, Kylie Moore-Gilbert and Colonel Michael Scott, moderated by Rachelle Unreich.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Upstanders-not-bystanders-panel-photo-David-Marlow-300x215.jpeg\")
Upstanders not Bystanders panel (photo: David Marlow)<\/p>\n
Kylie Moore-Gilbert spoke about the problems posed by the Iranian regime and about antisemitism following the Bondi attack.<\/p>\n
Lee Kofman discussed the book \u2018Ruptured\u2019, which contains many stories about women\u2019s experiences of antisemitism since October 7. She said that the book was about to be published in the US and Israel.<\/p>\n
Kofman said that she had previously felt comfortable in the arts, but that everything changed after October 7 because of the alienation and personal attacks to which Jews, particularly Israelis, have been subjected.<\/p>\n
She raised the issues of concealing one\u2019s Jewish identity and connection to Israel in the arts, doxxing and flashbacks to the Soviet Union. She no longer feels safe attending non-Jewish literary events.<\/p>\n
Kofman said it was vital to speak up: \u201cWe are such a small percentage of the population\u2014just 0.4 per cent of Australians and only 0.2 per cent worldwide\u2014so it is important to speak up and be an upstander.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Yishay-Ishi-Ron-Israeli-guest-and-author-of-\u2018Dog-and-\u2018The-Girl-Who-Rode-the-\u2026-photo-MJBW-2026-300x20.jpeg\")
Yishay Ishi Ron, Israeli guest and author of \u2018Dog\u2019 and \u2018The Girl Who Rode the \u2026\u2019 (photo: MJBW 2026)<\/p>\n
Psychologist Dr Erica Frydenberg was writing her family memoir, a Holocaust story, before October 7. It is about \u201cgood people in bad times\u201d. Ironically, the family lived on \u2018Do Not Forget Me Street\u2019 in Budapest. She launched her book at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.<\/p>\n
Colonel Michael Scott described himself as a non-Jew who stands up for the Jewish community, a secular veteran and a Zionist. He said, \u201cYou are not alone,\u201d and urged the community to \u201cdouble down on your Jewishness.\u201d However, he suggested that \u201cit will get worse before it gets better\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want our children to have to take it on. It is not just a problem for Jews. We need to reach Shazza and Dazza \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott said that ideological hatred could not be tackled through reason: \u201cYou can\u2019t reason someone out of a position they didn\u2019t reason themselves into.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event included a well-stocked pop-up bookstore operated on-site by Avenue Bookstore. Avenue has been heavily involved in the Jewish community\u2019s literary events since purchasing Sunflower Books in Elsternwick in 2012. Sunflower was converted into an Avenue Bookstore and later moved to larger premises nearby on Glen Huntly Road. Authors stopped by the bookstore to sign copies of their books for appreciative festival attendees.<\/p>\n
Chris Redfern, owner of Avenue Bookstore, told J-Wire: \u201cWe are delighted to be involved with the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has been very supportive, especially of our bookshop in Elsternwick.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1463-300x225.jpeg\")
The large selection of books on offer at the festival<\/p>\n
The Green Room, which served as a break and briefing room for authors, was a hive of activity, with discussions about research, AI and copyright, writing processes and speaking engagements. Visitors to the room could bump into well-known writers such as Bram Presser, Lee Kofman, Michael Visontay, Joseph Toltz, Andrea Goldsmith, Dan Goldberg, Rachel Cockerell, Dr Paul Valent and Rachelle Unreich.<\/p>\n
Among the many hardworking people and supporters whom Lee thanked were MJBW founding director and chair Esther Kister, the MJBW board, General Manager Ruth Rosen, volunteers, Chair Joe Reich and the event sponsors.<\/p>\n
Lee told JWire: \u201cWe still have the pop-up poetry event and the musical soir\u00e9e, \u2018Out of the Depths: Songs from the Holocaust\u2019, tonight and Tuesday night, respectively!\u201d<\/p>\n
MJBW continues this week with the pop-up poetry event tonight in St Kilda at 7 pm, followed by the closing-night musical soir\u00e9e in Elsternwick on Tuesday, 4 August.<\/p>\n