The JCC of Mid-Westchester will present a lecture and book signing featuring prominent sports authors Sharon Robinson and Kostya Kennedy on Sunday, October 14. The event will run from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, in the Bendheim Performing Arts Center, 999 Wilmot Road, Scarsdale.
Sharon Robinson, the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, has written several widely-praised books about her father, baseball legend Jackie Robinson. She will discuss and sign her picture books, Testing the Ice: A True Story about Jackie Robinson, and Jackie’s Gift, a delightful true story about how the Robinsons drew close to a neighboring Jewish family in Brooklyn and established a lifelong friendship. Other notable books by Robinson are: Stealing Home (a memoir); Jackie's Nine (about her father's core values); and the novels Safe At Home and Slam Dunk! In addition, Ms. Robinson is an educational consultant for Major League Baseball, overseeing its character education program Breaking Barrier: In Sports, In Life. Now in its 16th year, the program helps empower students with strategies to help them face obstacles in their lives.
Kostya Kennedy will discuss and sign his best-selling book, 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, the story of a nation captivated by DiMaggio’s hitting streak in the turbulent time before World War II. Kennedy, a senior editor at Sports Illustrated, writes on a wide range of subjects. Before joining SI, he was a staff writer at Newsday and contributed to The New York Times and The New Yorker. He earned an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, from which he received a Pulitzer Fellowship. Kennedy’s book 56 won the 2011 CASEY Award and was runner-up for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting. He also edited Sports Illustrated’s best-selling The Hockey Book, published in 2010. He lives in Westchester with his wife and children.
Admission for this lecture is $5 for children and $15 for adults. The event is appropriate for children ages 7 through adult. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF), a nonprofit organization founded in 1973 to perpetuate the memory of Jackie Robinson through the advancement of higher education among underserved populations. JRF provides college scholarships, skills-training and opportunities to disadvantaged students of color to ensure their success in college and to develop their leadership potential.
For more information visit www.jccmw.org.
