The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires presents:
Knosh & Knowledge.
How An Established Author and Techie Husband Embraced Electronic Publishing
Knosh & Knowledge hosts Helen Epstein, a veteran journalist and author of critically-acclaimed books Children of the Holocaust, Where She Came From, Music Talks, and Joe Papp. Helen has been a Berkshire summer resident since 1978. In 2010, she and her husband, Patrick Mehr merged their professional interests to co-found Plunkett Lake Press. (plunkettlakepress.com)
PLP identifies unavailable classics of non-fiction, many of Jewish interest, obtains the rights, digitizes them, and makes them available all over the world. Their very first book grew out of a long profile Helen did for the Boston Review about how Tina Packer founded Shakespeare & Company (1985). Helen will discuss recent books such as the one with psychoanalyst Paul Ornstein.
The electronic press, which began as Patrick's retirement hobby, now includes 150 titles, including books by Stefan Zweig, Sebastian Haffner, Eva Hoffman, Susan Quinn, and Helen herself. PLP prices its ebooks for students, shares profits with authors and artists, and provides Patrick Mehr, a former French technocrat, with a 20th century reading list that he is now helping prevent from falling into oblivion.
Advanced lunch reservations required by Thursday, September 7 before noon by calling 413-442-4360, ext. 10 or federation@jewishberkshires.org