Joshua Braff (born October 11, 1967) is an American writer.

Biography

Braff's first novel, ''The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green'', described as a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

coming of age tale, was published in 2004 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. ''The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green'' was an ALA Notable Book, named to Booklist's Top 10 1st Novels List, and chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program. His second novel ''Peep Show'' was published by Algonquin in 2010. In a four-star review of ''Peep Show'', ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' said, “Braff skillfully illuminates the failures and charms of a broken family. That teen longing for adults to act their age haunts long after the final page.” Braff's third novel, ''The Daddy Diaries'', was published on May 5, 2015. Novelist

Adam Langer Adam Langer (born 1967) is an American author best known for his novel '' Crossing California'', which was published in 2004. Biography Langer grew up in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, where he attended Daniel Boone Elementary Sc ...

praised the novel: “Honest and heartfelt, Joshua Braff’s novel about the perils of 21st century fatherhood contains more moments of truth than several hundred bestselling memoirs or self-help books. The wry humor and compulsive readability may remind readers of

Jonathan Tropper Jonathan Tropper (born February 19, 1970) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and producer. He is the internationally best-selling author of six novels that have been translated into over thirty languages. His last two novels, ''This Is Where ...

Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir ''Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work f ...

, but the hard-won wisdom and disarming vulnerability in “The Daddy Diaries” is all Braff's own.” Braff grew up in

South Orange, New Jersey South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...

and attended

Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

. He graduated from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1991 with a BS in Education. In 1995 Braff entered

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a Private college, private Catholic Church, Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college of ...

where he earned an MFA in creative writing/fiction. He contributed a short work titled "Exit 15W" to the collection of shorts about New Jersey entitled ''Living on the Edge of the World'' after his hometown of South Orange. Joshua is the older brother of actor-director

Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff'Scrubs' Star Zach Braff Wows ...

. His father was born

and his mother, originally

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. " ...

References

External links

* * 1967 births 21st-century American novelists Jewish American novelists Living people Place of birth missing (living people) American male novelists 21st-century American male writers Columbia High School (New Jersey) alumni New York University alumni People from South Orange, New Jersey Saint Mary's College of California alumni Writers from New Jersey 21st-century American Jews {{US-novelist-1960s-stub