Published: 25 February 2010

JEWISH BOOK WEEK
February 27 - March 7 

BERNARD KOPS has become synonymous with the Jewish East End – his plays, prose, memoirs and poetry bring to life the area of London that became home to waves of immigration during the first half of the 20th century. The West Hampstead-based poet is joined by George Szirtes and Michelene Wandor for a debate, discussion and plenty of poetry on topics ranging from the East End of Bernard’s youth to Budapest, film, philosophy and politics. 

• Poetry Hour: Bernard Kops, George Szirtes and Michelene Wandor appear on Sunday February 28 at 11am. 

ALBIE SACHS had not been in his home country for  years – yet his influence was such that South African thugs working for the secret service deemed he was such a threat to the status quo they traced him abroad and placed a bomb in his car. 

It exploded, ripping his right arm off and blinding him in one eye: yet  two decades later, Sachs was able to take a seat as a leading judge in the country’s Constitutional Court, helped draft a new post-apartheid constitution and was a driving force behind the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. 

His ability to marry complex legal questions with readable prose made his first bestseller, about being locked up under the regime’s 90-day laws that allowed people to be held without charge, a modern classic. Now his latest book, The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law, is the topic of an interview chaired by Belsize Park-based lawyer HELENA KENNEDY, QC. Sachs is a hero to all involved in fighting apartheid, and his literary output bears witness to the world events he was a key component in. 

• The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law: Justic Albie Sachs in conversation with Helena Kennedy QC
on Thursday, March 4 at 8.30pm.

WRITER DAVID AARONOVITCH is joined by Marx biographer and political sketch writer FRANCIS WHEEN to discuss why people enjoy conspiracy theories, no matter how far fetched they are, or how potentially anti-Semitic or bigoted they can be. Aaronovitch, who lives in Gospel Oak, and Wheen will discuss topics ranging from why people may think the moon landings were faked through to the concept that the 2004 tsunami was some how caused by secret Israeli nuclear missile tests. 

• Voodoo Histories: David Aaronovitch in conversation with Francis Wheen is on Tuesday March 2 at 7pm.