Acclaimed author Simon Sebag Montefiore has charmed a sold-out crowd at Sydney’s Waverley Library yesterday discussing his latest book, The Romanovs.
The Sydney Jewish Writers Festival pop-up event connected Russia’s historical legacy with some of it current challenges.
Sebag Montefiore was in colourful conversation with Lindfield Bookshop owner Scott Whitmont about the immense challenges faced by the Romanov family and other Russian dynasties in ruling such a vast country. He drew interesting parallels between history and today. He anticipated that Russian President Vladimir Putin, like the former Tsars, would not be relinquishing power anytime in the near future. According to Montefiore, Putin sees both Mikhail Gorbachev and Nicholas II as the two biggest failures as Tsars in Russian history.
The London-based author, who taught himself Russian to be able to conduct his research, interspersed his answers with personal anecdotes about his connection to Sir Moses Montefiore and his mixed Moroccan, Italian and Spanish history. The audience was engaged by his entertaining yet informative answers and after the event patrons many took the opportunity to purchase the book and have it signed by the author.
He will be speaking about Jerusalem at Waverley Library on Thursday 25 February at 7pm. However this SJWF event is also sold-out.
Other SJWF events in the near future include:
- Master Israeli story-teller Etgar Keret speaking on March 2 at Bondi Pavilion.
- Eva Clarke speaking on April 7th at 2pm at Waverley Library. Eva was born in a Nazi death camp and miraculously survived. Her story is part of the bestselling book Born Survivors by journalist Wendy Holden.
For more information about these events please go to: www.sjwf.org.au