Meet Patch Blogger and 'Love Doctor,' Terri Orbuch

The holiday season — including plenty of time saved for family, friends and acquaintances — is generally thought of as a busy time for business. However, for Terri Orbuch, it's just business as usual.

Orbuch, a Local Voices blogger on Patch, will speak at the 61st Annual Jewish Book Fair in-between juggling a teaching schedule at Oakland University (OU) with work as a research professor at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center.

"This is my second time doing the book fair. I spoke at the fair two years ago and had a great time," said Orbuch, a West Bloomfield resident. "People come with all kinds of challenges and experiences and really, that's the best audience. They're interested and motivated by their relationships."

Orbuch will speak about being "too connected to the past" as a theme from her latest release, Finding Love Again: 6 Simple Steps to a New and Happy Relationship, which hit bookstores this June (Sourcebooks Casablanca).

Orbuch said that Finding Love Again is a continuation of the work that went into her first bestselling book, 5 Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage From Good to Great (Delacorte). Orbuch studied 373 couples who were married in 1986, of which 46 couples have since divorced. 

The social psychologist aims to offer advice to a general audience based on this deep research, including those who are married or single. She said that understanding what caused divorce and what led divorcees to lead happy lives afterwards can benefit anyone interested in improving their own relationships.

"Finding a happy, healthy relationship or having a happy, healthy relationship doesn’t take hard work, but it does take simple, consistent, frequent work — meaning that you do have to do some work," Orbuch said. 

Meanwhile, at OU, Orbuch is looking forward to teaching a sociology course on interpersonal relationships in the winter semester. "It's my favorite class to teach," Orbuch said. "It's about relationships and diving deep into the course that I'm currently teaching, which is introduction to social psychology."

Orbuch is scheduled to speak at the book fair on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 11 a.m. 

Other highlighted guests of the fair include Stuart E. Eizenstat, who served in the White House, the State Department, the U.S. Treasury and as ambassador to the European Union and Lincoln Center pianist Caroline Stoessinger, who will perform and discuss her book A Century of Wisdom, the story of 108-year-old Alice Herz-Sommer, a Holocaust survivor raised in a home where regular guests included Kafka, Freud and Rainer Maria Rilke.

If you go

• What: The oldest and largest Jewish book fair in the United States, according to organizers, featuring leading figures from the arts, entertainment, politics, business, journalism, and more. 
• When: Opening night kicks the fair off with a performance by singer Judy Collins at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7. Events will be held every day in West Bloomfield until Nov. 18.
• Where: The Berman Center for the Performing Arts and Handleman Hall and Auditorium in the West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center, 6600 W. Maple Rd., and the the Oak Park JCC at 15110 W. 10 Mile Rd.
• Cost: Paid admission is required for some events, but most are free. Tickets cost between $8-$56. To purchase tickets, visit theberman.org or call 248-661-1900.
• What else: "This year there are books on arts, letters, and science; our senses will experience both fine art and music as our minds are stimulated by science and medicine," writes fair chair Sue Lutz in a press release. "The U.S. election will be over, so the Annual Jewish Book Fair will fill the gap with plenty of debate in the areas of international politics and religion, while embracing those of all faiths locally."

'Love Doctor' on Patch

• Is Online Dating Right For Your Senior Parent?
• 8 Ways to Thrive in a Long-Distance Relationship
• How "Real" Is Reality TV's Love and Courtship? Reflections on 'The Bachelorette'