JCC Mid-Westchester Hosts Sports Authors Book Signing

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 Rd in New Rochelle.

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.