Bestselling romance novelist Julia Quinn, whose Bridgerton books became a global Netflix sensation, will headline Jewish Women in Action Cleveland’s Sept. 8 Open Meeting at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights. The gathering marks the organization’s 132nd open meeting and its first major public event since dropping its longtime national affiliation to become an independent local nonprofit.
The event is a milestone moment for the group formerly known as the National Council of Jewish Women/Cleveland, which officially deaffiliated from its national parent organization on July 1 to become Jewish Women in Action Cleveland, or JWA CLE, according to Cleveland.com. Leaders have said the change gives the 132-year-old institution greater flexibility to address regional needs, per reporting from the Beloit Daily News. Open Meeting chair Lisa Cynamon Mayers said the 132nd opening meeting marks the beginning of a new season of impact in Cleveland, according to the Chagrin Solon Sun report.
A Bestselling Voice for a New Chapter
Quinn, a New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 novels, will take part in a moderated conversation led by Mayers, discussing storytelling, history, literature and the cultural impact of her work. She is best known for the Bridgerton romance series, which inspired Netflix’s global Bridgerton television franchise and has more than 20 million copies in print in the United States, with the books translated into 43 languages, per the Cleveland.com article.
Quinn writes under a pen name; she was born Julie Cotler Pottinger and originally chose the pseudonym so her books would sit on shelves next to bestselling romance author Amanda Quick, according to a Wikipedia entry cited in background research on the author. She graduated from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges with an art history degree and had been admitted to Yale School of Medicine, but deferred for two years to write instead, ultimately withdrawing after selling her first two novels at auction — three of her books were already published by the time she briefly attended medical classes, per Wikipedia.
That leap paid off. In 2010, Quinn was inducted as the 13th member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame, and at the time was the organization’s youngest inductee, after winning three RITA Awards over four years, according to Fantastic Fiction. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family and continues creating characters and stories set in the first half of the 19th century, the Cleveland.com report notes. Netflix wrapped filming on Bridgerton’s fourth season, based on Quinn’s 2001 novel An Offer From a Gentleman and centered on Benedict Bridgerton’s romance, with a two-part release scheduled for early 2026, according to L’Officiel USA.
Beyond the Page: Advocacy and Literacy
Quinn’s appearance also dovetails with causes close to the host organization. She serves on the board of Landesa, which works to secure land rights for rural communities, and has been a national ambassador for EveryLibrary. In June 2024, she joined more than 1,500 founding literary figures to launch Authors Against Book Bans, a national coalition pairing authors with grassroots groups fighting censorship in local school boards and public libraries, according to the coalition’s own announcement. Quinn advocates against book bans across the country, per Cleveland.com.
That literacy focus connects directly to the meeting’s other centerpiece: Jewish Women in Action Cleveland will honor Debbie Joseph with the Hannah G. Solomon Award, which recognizes individuals whose leadership, volunteerism and commitment to social justice embody the organization’s mission and values. Joseph has demonstrated dedication to the organization and the greater community, per the Cleveland.com report, coordinating the group’s Building Bridges with Books project, which maintains and routinely restocks 76 Little Free Libraries across Cuyahoga County, according to FreshWater Cleveland. The organization took over stocking the countywide Little Free Library network during the pandemic to expand reading access, per FreshWater Cleveland’s reporting.
The award’s namesake, Hannah G. Solomon, founded the National Council of Jewish Women at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as the first major national Jewish women’s organization in the United States. Solomon was a prominent activist who advocated for early child labor regulations, child welfare programs and women’s suffrage, according to the National Council of Jewish Women. Open Meeting co-chair Jill Markowitz shares chairing duties with Mary Neides for the Sept. 8 gathering, and board member Wendie Forman said Julia Quinn’s work brings people together through storytelling, Cleveland.com reported.
Event Details at the Newly Renovated Landerhaven
The Open Meeting takes place at Landerhaven, 6111 Landerhaven Drive in Mayfield Heights, a venue with its own recent reinvention. Driftwood Catering acquired Landerhaven in 2020 and completed a full renovation in 2021, the site’s first major overhaul since 1986 after more than six decades under founder Harlan Diamond, according to WKYC.
Doors open with a VIP reception at 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 8, followed by the luncheon and presentation. Garden party attire is encouraged. The VIP reception and luncheon costs $125, while the luncheon and presentation alone costs $85, per Cleveland.com. Registration and additional information are available at jwacleveland.org, and inquiries can be made by calling 216-378-2204.
Jewish Women in Action Cleveland was founded to bring together the community to celebrate leadership, learning and community engagement, according to the Cleveland.com article. The nonprofit’s roots run deep in Northeast Ohio: the organization, originally established in 1894, opened its Thriftique Showroom in 1936, which stands as Cleveland’s oldest continuously operating thrift store funding community welfare programs, with proceeds from the Bedford Heights resale shop supporting local initiatives for women, children and families, per the organization’s own history.
