Meet the Olympians! Jackie Dubrovich & Tierna Davidson
Tuesday October 15th
4:00pm at the Hilton Branch Library

Kids, teens, and families are invited to join a celebratory party for our local Olympic Gold Medalists and hear their inspiring stories about how they got to the top of their sport!

Meet Olympic Fencer:  Jackie Dubrovich (Maplewood resident) who won the 2024 gold medal for women’s foil with the USA Women’s Fencing team at the Paris Olympics [pictured on the right]

Meet Olympic Soccer Player: Tierna Davidson (South Orange resident) who won the 2024 gold medal for the US Women’s National Team at the Paris Olympics [pictured on the left]

Free and open to the public. No registration needed. 

The Ideas Festival is sponsored by the Essex County Division of Cultural Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Discover Jersey Arts.

View Event Photos Here

Photos courtesy Tracy Sham Photography

An Evening with Barry Sonnenfeld, in conversation with New York Times Book Review Editor Gilbert Cruz.

This event will be held at Maplewood Town Hall.

One-of-a-kind filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld tells stories only he can tell, from his blockbuster career with iconic actors, studio execs, and producers. His humor and insight provide an inside glimpse into how Hollywood really works, or how it doesn’t.

No registration needed. Books will be available for sale and signing.

His soon to be released book, Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time delivers a cavalcade of sometimes baffling, often enlightening, and always funny stories about Sonnenfeld’s many films and television shows. From battling with studio executives and producers to bad-script-solving on set to coaxing actors into finding the right light and talking faster, Sonnenfeld provides an entertaining master class in how to make commercial art in the face of constant human foible. Over four decades in Hollywood, the mega-franchises include The Addams Family and Men in Black; the critical favorites, Get Shorty and Pushing Daisies; the icons, Will Smith, John Travolta, and Michael Jackson; and the projects that got away, Forrest Gump, Ali, and anything starring Jim Carrey.

The true stories escalate from surreal to outrageous to unbelievable. And then there’s magic hour. But you’ll never see Hollywood the same way again.

View Event Photos Here

Photos courtesy Tracy Sham Photography

Ann Goldstein is the translator of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series, and is one of the most sought-after translators from the Italian language. She is a former editor at The New Yorker, and is the editor of The Complete Works of Primo Levi in English. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Ann Goldstein grew up in Maplewood. She attended Bennington College, where she read Ancient Greek. She then studied comparative philology at University College, London.

Maplewood resident Pamela Erens is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including Eleven Hours and The Virgins and the memoir Middlemarch and the Imperfect Life. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Vogue and, Elle. Pamela was the 2017 recipient of the Maplewood Literary Award.

Our 2024 Ideas Festival will start off with two exciting programs. We'll be hosting Ann Goldstein on September 25 (see above), and filmmaker and TV Barry Sonnenfled on October 9. Other programs will be announced later in the year.

The Ideas Festival is sponsored by the Essex County Division of Cultural Affairs, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Discover Jersey Arts.

Free and open to the public. No registration needed. 

View Event Photos Here

Photos courtesy Tracy Sham Photography.