South London in fact and fiction with Gerald Jacobs, Julia Neuberger and Hephzibah Anderson.

Compared to their neighbours in North, East and West London, the Jewish communities on the other side of the river tend to be less discussed. Countering that we have Gerald Jacobs, literary editor of the Jewish Chronicle, and Julia Neuberger, Britain’s second-ever female rabbi. Jacob’s latest novel Pomeranski takes us to 1950s Brixton and beyond, featuring gangsters, boxers, jazz and the rag trade. Baroness Neuberger was rabbi of the South London Liberal Synagogue for over a decade and stood as the SDP candidate for Tooting in the 1983 general election.

They will be in conversation with author and Mail on Sunday fiction editor Hephzibah Anderson.

Gerald Jacobs is the Literary Editor of the Jewish Chronicle. His non-fiction books include A Great Deal of Laughter — the first authorised biography of Judi Dench; and the best-selling and widely acclaimed Sacred Games, the true story of Miklos Hammer, a remarkable Hungarian Holocaust survivor.  His two recent novels are Nine Love Letters and Pomeranski. He has written for a range of papers and magazines including the Independent, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Spectator, New Statesman, TLS, Jewish Quarterly, Standpoint, Evening Standard, The Critic, and Jewish Renaissance.

Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE is Chair of University College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust. She was Senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue from 2011 until March 2020 and is now Rabbi Emerita. She is a cross bench Peer in the House of Lords, former CEO of the King’s Fund, and a founding Trustee of the Walter and Liesel Schwab Charitable trust, set up in memory of her parents. She is a Trustee of the Rayne Foundation, Trustee of the Van Leer Group Foundation, Chair of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Chair of Independent Age. She chaired the Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway for Dying Patients in 2013 and was Vice Chair, Mental Health Act Independent Review 2017-2018. She is also a member of the Executive Board, Leo Baeck Institute London. Her latest book on Antisemitism What it is. What is isn’t. Why it matters (Orion Books) was published in May 2019.

Hephzibah Anderson is Fiction Editor of the Mail on Sunday and a columnist for The Critic. She regularly writes for The Observer, Prospect magazine and BBC Culture.