Ben Apfelbaum

SYDNEY JEWISH WRITERS FESTIVAL CONTINUES TO FLOURISH

Featured image – Left to right David Gonski and his immediate family. Pictured left to right- David’s wife, sister, mother, David, and his younger twin brother Stephen. David’s other twin brother Dr Peter Gonski was not at the event.

Having outgrown its original Shalom College venue in Kensington, the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival was held in the Bondi Beach Pavilion for its launch on August 27 and thereafter for the bulk of speakers, the next day at Waverley Library.

The topics remained from the musical poetry of Israel’s most renowned poet Yehuda Amichai to the great Jewish Australian rock impressario Michael Gudinski; the childhood innocence of Anna and Barbara Fienberg’s Tashi books to facing death by Leah Kaminsky.

There were authors and distinguished local community figures who had also penned books such as David Gonski, Mark Tedeschi and Alexandra Joel. Authors Lee Kofman, Leah Kaminsky, Susan Wyndham, Maria Katsonis and Arnold Zable flew in from interstate. Others such as Rabbi Dov Lipman and Matt Friedman came from overseas. It was a hothouse of learning and intellectual stimulation. The crowds had increased from last year, as did their pleasure.

If the Festival grows any bigger, Waverley Library may no longer be large enough.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.