A promotional poster for the Jewish Book Festival featuring a portrait of author Danila Botha in the center, surrounded by colorful text, stars, and open books against a white and purple background.

Paperny Family JCC

General Admission

Join us for a special presentation with Danila Botha. Toronto&#39;s Danila Botha is the author of four short story collections, including the forthcoming Sleepwalking Too Close to the Fire&nbsp;(Guernica Editions, 2027). Her short stories have been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, named a finalist for the Montana Prize, and selected for Best Short Fictions. She has written two novels&mdash;Too Much On the Inside (2015), which was optioned for film, and A Place for People Like Us (2025).&nbsp; Botha will be presenting her debut graphic novel, Vidal, which she also illustrated, and won the 2026 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Graphic Literature.&nbsp; Through Chagallian vignettes, she follows the life of her great uncle Vidal, from his Sephardic upbringing in Tiberias (Ottoman Empire and then British Mandate Palestine) to his engineering studies in Haifa, to his artistic life in Paris to his work with the underground resistance, to his time in Auschwitz. Vidal captures the culturally rich Sephardic Jewish experience and illuminates the untold stories of family, hope, freedom, and what their pursuit can cost.

Join us for a special presentation with Danila Botha. Toronto's Danila Botha is the author of four short story collections, including the forthcoming Sleepwalking Too Close to the Fire (Guernica Editions, 2027). Her short stories have been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, named a finalist for the Montana Prize, and selected for Best Short Fictions. She has written two novels—Too Much On the Inside (2015), which was optioned for film, and A Place for People Like Us (2025).  Botha will be presenting her debut graphic novel, Vidal, which she also illustrated, and won the 2026 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Graphic Literature.  Through Chagallian vignettes, she follows the life of her great uncle Vidal, from his Sephardic upbringing in Tiberias (Ottoman Empire and then British Mandate Palestine) to his engineering studies in Haifa, to his artistic life in Paris to his work with the underground resistance, to his time in Auschwitz. Vidal captures the culturally rich Sephardic Jewish experience and illuminates the untold stories of family, hope, freedom, and what their pursuit can cost.

Paperny Family JCC

Jewish Book Festival Presents Danila Botha

1607 90 Ave SW

General Admission

Free

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