Welcome to the Florida JCCs Monthly Book & Author Series, brought to you by the six participating JCC's in South Florida and Orlando.
This month features Bess Kalb, "Nobody Will Tell You This But Me" and Dara Kurtz, "I Am My Mother's Daughter".
In Conversation with Zibby Owens, creator and host of the award-winning podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read.
About The Books
Even after she left home for Hollywood, Emmy-nominated TV writer Bess Kalb 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. Nobody Will Tell You This But Me marks the creation of a totally new, virtuosic form of memoir: a reconstruction of a beloved grandmother’s words and wisdom to tell her family’s story with equal parts poignancy and hilarity.
Dara Kurtz kept a Ziploc bag of letters written by her mother, who died from cancer when Dara was 28 years old. This bag also included letters written by her departed Jewish grandmothers. Fearing the sadness these letters might bring, Dara left the Ziploc bag buried in her home for decades. Dara often longed to ask her mother and grandmothers for their advice, especially when she, like her mother, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 42. Eventually, Dara opened the bag of letters and reread them. They brought back beautiful family memories, taught her many life lessons about the love between mothers and daughters, and the wisdom passed on from one generation to the next.
About the Authors
Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Her writing for the show earned her a Writer’s Guild Award in 2016. She has also written for the Oscars and the Emmys. A regular contributor to The New Yorker’s “Daily Shouts,” her work has been published in The New Republic, Grantland, Salon.com, Wired, The Nation, and elsewhere.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 42, Dara Kurtz left her 20-year career as a personal banker and financial advisor to focus on a new career in writing, speaking, and podcasting. Today her personal blog, Crazy Perfect Life, reaches over 180,000 followers. Dara is the author of two books, Crush Cancer: Personal Enlightenment from a Cancer Survivor and Cancer Crush Workbook. Dara is a writer with one goal: to use her life experiences to help people strengthen their relationships and create more happiness and joy in their everyday lives.