By Deb Silverthorn
The winter and spring 2026 season of the Margot Rosenberg Pulitzer Dallas Jewish BookFest, co-sponsored by Central Market with support from the Jewish Book Council, is shaping up to be one of its strongest yet, with a slate of best-selling authors — many with local connections — all appearing at the Aaron Family JCC.
“Wow is what we can say about this year’s lineup, and it keeps on getting stronger,” said Rachelle Weiss Crane, director of Israel Engagement & Jewish Living and producer of the J’s annual Jewish BookFest and Jewish Film Festival of Dallas. “In this, our 14th year with the Margot Rosenberg Pulitzer Foundation as our title sponsor, we now have authors reaching out to present on our J’s stage.
“As one who has always loved and appreciated reading and books, it’s special to me to have such talented authors who bring such a wide variety of interests. They come to entertain, to inform, to teach and to share such a myriad of genres.”
At 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 9, longtime Dallas resident Dr. Mark Unterberg will discuss his debut novel, “The Bigger Game,” in conversation with Gail Sachson. The book blends personal drama with geopolitical intrigue and is set in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, inspired by a family vacation there a decade ago.
“I always had a passion for wanting to write and I finally went to a few writer’s conferences and came up with a concept,” said Unterberg, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst for more than 50 years who spent three decades at Timberlawn Behavioral Health System, including years as chair of its board and executive medical director. He has also served as psychiatrist for the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and as a consultant for the Dallas Mavericks.
“I’ve loved reading since I was a kid, and I always had an obsession for writing. Now, this first book is out and I’m working on the second, with a third already in mind. I wanted to write a mystery and then the 2023 war broke out and I was led here,” he said. “This one is about a police detective from New York, transplanted to San Juan Island, who gets pulled in to solve a major crime in the area. His research leads him to information about a bioengineered weapon, and these characters just speak to me. Their words hit the page.”
Unterberg and his wife, Maddy, whom he met while they were in high school, are the parents of four and grandparents of seven. They have made Dallas their home, and Temple Emanu-El their congregation, for 50 years.
On Wednesday, April 15, the J’s chief impact officer and longtime former director of early education and camp director, Tara Ohayon, will interview “Good Inside” and the newly released “Leave Me Alone” author Dr. Becky Kennedy.
In one of just two JCC events the author is participating in this year, Kennedy and Ohayon will share a conversation about parenting and her new book, which focuses on Deeply Feeling Kids, or “DFKs,” and how parents can better understand and navigate big emotions.
“People love Dr. Becky and we are honored to have her here. This is such an exciting event for us,” said Ohayon, who facilitated an online Jewish Grandparents Network Learning Fest event with Kennedy on Tuesday, Jan. 27. “She’s real, she’s calm and the parents who follow her are doing so because they feel seen and heard. She’s ‘it,’ and I’m really looking forward to meeting her.
“We know this one will sell out, so our community needs to register now, before it’s posted to the broader audience,” Ohayon added. “She is such a prominent figure and it’s really a coup that we get to host her here at the J.”
Events continue to be added to the spring schedule, including a 7:30 p.m. visit on Wednesday, May 6 with “Zahav: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes” bestselling cookbook author Adeena Sussman and local food and cultural influencer Rachel Edenson Pinn, in a special evening chaired by Elizabeth Rosenberg Greif.
Earlier in the season, the J welcomed authors Mitch Albom, Margaret Boyle, Jennifer Coburn, Glenn Frankel, Elizabeth Hyman, Dr. Tovah Klein, Pamela Nadel, Dr. Shari Rabin, Daniel Silva, Dan Slater and Dr. Bryan E. Stone. Programs earlier this week included Stefan Merrill Block (“Home Schooled”) and Matthew Goodman (“Paris Undercover”) as lingering ice and freezing temperatures continued across the area.
“The variety of books we’re sharing, and their authors, is amazing — again, as we somehow seem to raise the bar every year,” said BookFest chair Marcy Helfand. “I have really enjoyed our guests and seeing community members coming out to so many events.”
For more information and to register for the Margot Rosenberg Pulitzer Dallas Jewish BookFest events, visit jccdallas.org/bookfest.
