The New York Jewish Book Festival returns this November with free admission and a Hanukkah bazaar

The scheduling problem at this year’s New York Jewish Book Festival arrives at 11:30am: do you want to hear about Renoir’s Jewish portrait subjects or discuss what makes a fictional family Jewish? Both conversations are on the program, at the same time. You’ll have to decide which argument you’d rather bring to dinner.

The festival takes place on Sunday, November 15 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City. Registration is free, with an optional $10 donation, for a day running from 10am to 5pm. There’s also a Hanukkah bazaar, should you want to leave with something for a person whose reading preferences you haven’t quite figured out.

The lineup rewards a little advance planning. At 11:30am, “Renoir’s Jewish Muses” brings authors Doreen Carvajal and Catherine Ostler into conversation with journalist Leslie Camhi about the Cahen d’Anvers sisters and the family behind their portraits. It’s an opportunity to consider the people whose lives extend well beyond the museum labels attached to their likenesses. The festival’s announcement identifies the session as an exploration of the paintings alongside Jewish society in prewar France.

Meanwhile, “Crafting the Fictional Jewish Family” gathers novelists including Jason Diamond and Alexis Schaitkin, with Molly Tolsky moderating. The premise is a useful one for anyone who has ever disagreed with a bookstore’s shelving decisions: how does Jewish identity reach the page and how consciously does a writer put it there?

At 12:45pm, André Aciman joins Tikva Hecht and Shamar Hill for “Writing Grief That Isn’t Yours Alone,” moderated by Ruth Franklin. The conversation considers inherited loss and the responsibilities involved in writing about communal memory. Later, at 2pm, a Jewish Food Society program brings chef Alon Shaya and photographer Mayan Toledano together with Devra Ferst and Amanda Dell to discuss preserving survivors’ stories through different forms of storytelling.

Save some attention for the final panel slot, though. At 3:15pm, “Lost Yiddish New York” examines vanished institutions and their continuing influence on Jewish life in the city. Shulamith Z. Berger and Jai Zion join Henry H. Sapoznik, with Paul Radensky moderating. A competing New York memoirs panel features Jeffrey Seller alongside Zalman Newfield and Rossi—another decision that will depend on whether you’re more interested in the city’s institutions or the people finding their way through them.

The museum is at 36 Battery Place. Consult the full 2026 schedule before registering: choosing your panels ahead of time will give you a better chance of spending the day in conversations you actually want to have.