Heidi Rabinowitz (she/her/hers) is an advocate for Jewish children’s literature: its creation and publication, its achievement of the highest standards, and its inclusion in collections for readers of ALL backgrounds. She engages in numerous projects that promote the genre, hosting The Book of Life: A Podcast About Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) at bookoflifepodcast.com, founding the popular Jewish Kidlit Mavens group on Facebook, and helping to run The Sydney Taylor Shmooze, a mock award blog at sydneytaylorshmooze.com. Heidi is a Past Chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, which recognizes the best Jewish children’s and YA books each year.

She has served on the book selection committee for PJ Library, a Jewish literacy and engagement program that offers free books for Jewish families with young children. Heidi is a frequent conference speaker and regularly publishes articles on Jewish children’s literature.

Heidi is Library Director for Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton, having also served in public Youth Services departments in Broward County, Florida and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (with an MLS from Pitt in 1993). She is the Past President of the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL). Please see an image of Heidi’s resume in the Photo Gallery.

Location: Florida

Keywords = Diversity, Inclusion, Public Libraries, Special Libraries, School Libraries, Collection Development, Children, Outreach, Jewish, Judaism, Antisemitism

$Speaking Fee (Standard fee is $100 but if this is prohibitive, please contact speaker to work out an adjusted rate.)

Virtual Presentations

Heidi Rabinowitz

Dr. Erum Shahzad

LaShauna Dean

Nick Demske

Kawanna Bright