The New Year starts off with a bang during a night of award-winning Jewish fiction at the Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival’s second Signature Series event on Tuesday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Herbert Gilman Theater, Mandell JCC, Zachs Campus, 335 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford.

The event features prize-writing authors Julie Orringer, Nadia Kalman and Austin Ratner, with moderator, Josh Lambert, author of American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide.

Julie Orringer is the 2010 winning recipient of the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and a finalist in the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Orringer is the author of The Invisible Bridge, a New York Times and L.A. Times bestseller, and she has also written the acclaimed short story collection How to Breathe Underwater, a New York Times Notable Book.

Author Nadia Kalman, a Ukrainian immigrant, moved to West Hartford, CT with her family as a child. They later moved to Stamford, which became the setting of her first novel, The Cosmopolitans. Kalman is the 2011 winner of the Emerging Writer Award from Moment Magazine, and a 2011 finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

Austin Ratner penned the novel The Jump Artist, and received the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, which is the largest monetary award given to early career writers by the Jewish Book Council. His novel is considered historic fiction at its best, as it tells the story of famous photographer, Philippe Halsam.

Tickets to all Mandell JCC Jewish Book Festival Signature Series events are $20 per person, and are on sale via mail, in person, fax, or online at the Mandell JCC Box Office, 860-231-6316, 860-233-0802 (fax), tickets@mandelljcc.org and at www.mandelljcc.org.

For more information, contact Jewish Book Festival Director, Elana MacGilpin, 860-231-6327, emacgilpin@mandelljcc.org, or the Member Services Center, 860-236-4571. For updates, follow the Mandell JCC on Facebook and Twitter.