
Authors Ottessa Moshfegh and Susan Choi and actors John Turturro and Mary-Louise Parker will be among dozens of featured guests at a Philip Roth tribute in the late novelist’s New Jersey hometown.
“Philip Roth Unbound” — a reference to Roth’s novel “Zuckerman Unbound” — will run in Newark the weekend of March 17-19, around the time Roth would have turned 90. The Pulitzer Prize-winner died in 2018 at age 85.
Presented by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, in collaboration with the Newark Public Library, “Philip Roth Unbound” will include a reading of his dystopian bestseller “The Plot Against America,” a preview of a stage adaptation of “Sabbath’s Theater,” co-presented by Turturro and Ariel Levy, and debates on censorship and other issues Roth often contended with in his lifetime.
“Over the last 75 years, Philip Roth was one of the most singular and challenging voices in American fiction,” NJPAC CEO John Schreiber said in a statement released Tuesday.
“And while the Newark of Roth’s youth has transformed, its essential qualities remain — innovation, creativity and grit. In presenting ‘Philip Roth Unbound’ we have the opportunity to invite patrons into a unique and vibrant environment of discussion and examination, not only of a writer’s life and work, but of Newark and the nation as well,” the statement said.
Highlights also include a Roth-centered bus tour of Newark; “Stand-up and Challah!,” featuring readings of Roth’s most comical writing; and “Letting the Repellent In: Philip Roth and the Art of Outrage,” billed as “a provocative panel on the cathartic power of discomfort.”












SUNSET PARK — “As a resident of Marine Park, one of the great surprises I found biking around Industry City and visiting Japan Village was to discover Bush Terminal Park. I continue to be amazed at the serene hideaways that the city offers in some of the busiest places — and, still, with an iconic view.”

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.

ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.