As part of our BOOK CLUB SERIES
Join us for an Author Talk with Bess Kalb as she discusses her book 
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me:  A True (as Told to Me) Story

"When I stop crying, I'm calling my mother immediately and making her read it." - Jodi Picoult
"Comic lines as good as in any movie, and pathos as deep as in any novel" - Mike Birbiglia

Bess Kalb, Emmy-nominated TV writer and New Yorker contributor, saved every voicemail her grandmother Bobby Bell ever left her. Bobby was a force--irrepressible, glamorous, unapologetically opinionated. Bobby doted on Bess; Bess adored Bobby. Then, at ninety, Bobby died. But in this debut memoir, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more, in a voice as passionate as it ever was in life.

Recounting both family lore and family secrets, Bobby brings us four generations of indomitable women and the men who loved them. Bobby was also with Bess with every step of the way as Bess grew up in New York and entered the rough-and-tumble world of L.A. television.  Bobby was the light of Bess's childhood and her fiercest supporter, giving Bess unequivocal love, even if sometimes of the toughest kind. Most importantly Bobby shared with Bess some of her most valuable wisdom:

- If the earth is cracking behind you, you put one foot in front of the other.
- Never. Buy. Fake. Anything.

Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and the bestselling author.  She wrote for eight years on Jimmy Kimmel Live. She also writes for The New Yorker's "Daily Shouts."  She has written for the Emmy Awards, the Academy Awards, and the 2020 DNC.

The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater & the Simon Family JCC’s Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival is held in coordination with the Jewish Book Council,
the only organization in the organized American Jewish community whose sole purpose is the promotion of Jewish books.