The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival will hold two special events in May—one featuring Delia Ephron and another with Neil Sedaka. 

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch joins the Festival to present Girls Night Out with “Quirk Out” featuring Ephron, author of bestsellers, “You’ve Got Mail,” “Hanging Up,” and the soon-to-be-released book, “The Lion is In.” She’ll be joined by Diane Kline and Cary Goldwasser, authors of the Post-Dispatch column, “Quirk Out” at Macy’s in West County Mall (second floor). Makeovers, modeling, gift bags, prize drawings, refreshments and more begin at 6:30 p.m. and the author presentation begins at 7:30pm. Admission is  $15;  free with Series PLUS Tickets.

The Festival’s final literary event for spring is sponsored by Wells Fargo and features an “Evening of Conversation, Books and Song” with musical legend Neil Sedaka, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16 at the JCC’s Staenberg Family Complex. With a six-decade career and sales of over 60 million records to his credit, Sedaka is an internationally acclaimed performer and Songwriter Hall of Famer. Included among Sedaka’s numerous musical hits are “Calendar Girl,” and “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” the inspirations for his new, best-selling, children’s books and CDs, “Dinosaur Pet” and “Waking Up is Hard to Do.” 

Sedaka will sing and talk onstage with radio host Cindy Collins from KLOU 103.3 FM, and he will take questions from the audience. He will also sign his children’s books which come with music CDs. Admission is $15 for adults; $8 for children age 6-12; free with Festival Series PLUS Tickets.

For more information on the November book festival or any of the festival’s literary events, call the hotline at 314-442-3299; or visit www.stljewishbookfestival.org   Charge tickets by phone at: 314-442-3299; online at www.brownpapertickets.com; in person at the JCC Box Office (in the Arts & Education Building of the JCC’s Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive). 

Book Festival co-chairs are Kitty Gross and Ann Spector.