Recuperating from his sixth back surgery doesn't seem to have dampened Jerry Weintraub's spirit. Even at 7:20 a.m. West Coast time, the 73-year-old Weintraub is sharp, funny and on point as he answers questions prior to his arrival Sunday at the 32nd...

Martin Fletcher, the multiple Emmy Award-winning NBC News foreign correspondent, returns to the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival to discuss his latest book, "Walking Israel: A Personal Search for the Soul of a Nation" (St Martin's Press, $25.99). Fletcher...

At 79¾ years of age, Judith Viorst feels qualified to speak - or at least write - from the perspective of someone in her eighties. Viorst, author of 36 books, is not apologizing for her somewhat premature 37th, "Unexpectedly Eighty and Other Adaptations"...

Yann Martel, the author of the popular "Life of Pi," spent six years researching and writing his next book. Though Martel's stated intention was not to pen something controversial, one reviewer claimed that "Beatrice and Virgil" (Spiegel and Grau, $24)...

In the 32 years that Judith Martin has preached proper etiquette as Miss Manners, Martin has been asked countless questions about wedding "do's" and "don'ts." She has addressed the topic in her advice column, which runs in more than 200 newspapers worldwide,...

In his new book, veteran illustrator and author Rick Meyerowitz - longtime contributor to "National Lampoon" magazine and the man who created the poster for the movie "Animal House" - offers a tribute to 35 of the artists and writers at the "Lampoon"...

It is easy to understand why Joan Nathan, the grande dame of Jewish cooking, is the winner of three James Beard awards. Along with her splendid recipes, Nathan's books include life stories from the heritage cooks she meets, historical perspectives on...

Shortly after his release in 1945 from the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria, 41-year-old Simon Wiesenthal began his search for Nazi war criminals. He had been trained as an architect and had no experience in conducting investigations. Initially...

Harold S. Kushner, the 75-year-old rabbi laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Mass., was an army chaplain and, in the several decades following, a Conservative synagogue rabbi. Meanwhile, he earned an international reputation as an author, especially...

A big-time Hollywood producer, an octogenarian whose poems about aging turn it into a humorous adventure and "the" authority on politeness and good behavior are among the more than 30 authors appearing over 12 days at the 32nd annual St. Louis Jewish...