List of Jewish American authors
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

This is an alphabetical, referenced list of notable Jewish American authors. For other Jewish Americans, see
Lists of American Jews These are lists of prominent American Jews, arranged by field of activity. Academics * Biologists and physicians * Chemists * Computer scientists * Economists * Historians * Linguists * Mathematicians * Philosophers * Physicists * Psychologis ...
.


Authors

*
Warren Adler Warren Adler (December 16, 1927 – April 15, 2019) was an American author, playwright and poet. His novel ''The War of the Roses'' was turned into a dark comedy starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. Adler was an ess ...
, novelist and short story writer, known for ''
The War of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
'' *
Mary Antin Mary Antin (born Maryashe Antin; June 13, 1881 – May 15, 1949) was an American author and immigration rights activist. She is best known for her 1912 autobiography ''The Promised Land (autobiography), The Promised Land'', an account of her emi ...
, memoirist, author of '' The Promised Land'' * Molly Antopol, short story writer, 2014 National Book Award nominee * Jacob M. Appel, novelist (''The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up'') and short story writer (''Einstein's Beach House'') *
Max Apple Max Apple (born October 22, 1941) is an American short story writer, novelist, and professor at The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Biography Apple was born to a Jewish family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and received h ...
, novelist and short story writer *
Sholem Asch Sholem Asch ( yi, שלום אַש, pl, Szalom Asz; 1 November 1880 – 10 July 1957), also written Shalom Ash, was a Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language who settled in the United States. Life and work Asch ...
, novelist, essayist and playwright * Isaac Asimov, novelist, short story writer and prolific author of nonfiction, known for his science fiction works about robots and for writing books in 9 of the 10 categories of the
Dewey Decimal Classification The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject. Section 4.1 ...
*
Shalom Auslander Shalom Auslander (born 1970) is a prominent American novelist, memoirist, and essayist. He grew up in a strict, Orthodox neighborhood in Monsey, New York, where he describes himself as having been "raised like a veal", a reference to his strict re ...
, novelist *
Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), '' The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The ...
, novelist *
Dorothy Walter Baruch Dorothy Walter Baruch (5 August 1899 – 4 September 1962) was an American psychologist and children's book author. She studied children's language acquisition and wrote about childhood development whilst also supplying fiction for children Life ...
, author and child psychologist * Jonathan Baumbach *
Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only w ...
, novelist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the
Nobel Prize for Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...
, and the National Medal of Arts *
Aimee Bender Aimee Bender (born June 28, 1969) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal stories and characters. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards. Biography Born to a Jewish family, Bender received her undergraduate de ...
, novelist and short story writer, known for her often fantastic and surreal plots and characters"other Jewish authors who may be of interest... Bettina Aptheker... Aimee Bender" *
Judy Blume Judith Blume (née Sussman; born February 12, 1938) is an American writer of children's, young adult and adult fiction. Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 25 novels. Among her best-known works are ''Are You There God? It's Me ...
, children's author. *
Shmuley Boteach Jacob Shmuel Boteach ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, and television host. Boteach is the author of 31 books, including the best seller ''Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy'', and '' Kosher Jes ...
, author of over 30 books, including best seller ''Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy'', and ''
Kosher Jesus ''Kosher Jesus'' (2012) is a book by the Orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, focusing on the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. The book examines the rabbinic origins of the teachings of Jesus within the context of Second Temple Judaism ...
'' * Joshua Braff, novelist *
Abraham Cahan Abraham "Abe" Cahan (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם קאַהאַן; July 7, 1860 – August 31, 1951) was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician. Cahan was one of the founders of ''The Forward'' (), ...
, journalist, author and editor of Yiddish newspaper ''Jewish Daily Forward'' *
Hortense Calisher Hortense Calisher (December 20, 1911 – January 13, 2009) was an American writer of fiction and the second female president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Biography Personal life Born in New York City, and a graduate of Hunter C ...
, novelist and president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters *
Raphael Hayyim Isaac Carregal Raphael Hayyim Isaac CarregalAlso spelt: Carigal, Carrigal, Karigal, Karigel, Karigol, Kargol, Kragol. (October 15, 1733, Hebron, Ottoman Empire – May 5, 1777, Barbados) was an itinerant Palestinian rabbi and preacher. He is the first rabbi k ...
, colonial era rabbi who published the first Jewish sermons in America *
Melvin Jules Bukiet Melvin Jules Bukiet is an author and literary critic. He has written a number of novels, including ''Sandman's Dust'', ''After'', ''While the Messiah Tarries'', ''Signs and Wonders'', ''Strange Fire'', and ''A Faker's Dozen''. He edited the col ...
, novelist *
Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...
, novelist and short story writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for ''
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'' is a 2000 novel by American author Michael Chabon that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. The novel follows the lives of two Jewish cousins, Czech artist Joe Kavalier and Brooklyn-born write ...
'' *
Arthur A. Cohen Arthur Allen Cohen (June 25, 1928 – September 30, 1986) was an American scholar, art critic, theologian, publisher, and author. Scholar David M. Stern has written of Cohen: "Though he was best known as a novelist and theologian, he also pursue ...
, novelist * Joshua Cohen, novelist, author of '' Witz'' * Bernard Cooper, novelist, short story writer *
Edward Dahlberg Edward Dahlberg (July 22, 1900 – February 27, 1977) was an American novelist, essayist, and autobiographer. Background Edward Dahlberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth Dahlberg. Together, mother and son led a vagabond existence ...
, novelist and essayist *
Anita Diamant Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books."Anita Diamant." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2015. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2017-09-22. She has ...
, writer and author of the novel, '' The Red Tent'' *
E.L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...
, novelist *
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, singer-songwriter, often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 *
Joel Eisenberg Joel Eisenberg is a writer-producer, whose current eight-book fantasy saga with co-author Steve Hillard, '' The Chronicles of Ara,'' was sold to Ovation TV for an eight-hour miniseries. The deal was unique for a network in that the series was ...
, novelist, screenwriter and producer, author of "The Chronicles of Ara" fantasy series with Steve Hillard *
Stanley Elkin Stanley Lawrence Elkin (May 11, 1930 – May 31, 1995) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. His extravagant, satirical fiction revolves around American consumerism, popular culture, and male-female relationships. Biograp ...
, novelist and essayist * Richard Elman, novelist and journalist *
Nathan Englander Nathan Englander (born 1970) is an American short story writer and novelist. His debut short story collection, ''For the Relief of Unbearable Urges,'' was published by Alfred A. Knopf, in 1999. His second collection, ''What We Talk About When We ...
, short story writer and novelist, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize *
Marcia Falk Marcia Falk is a poet, liturgist, painter, and translator who has written several books of poetry and prayer. Early years She was born in New York City and grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in New Hyde Park, Long Island. Her mother Frieda G ...
, poet, liturgist, painter, translatorMarcia Falk, Jewish Women's Archive
/ref> *
Kenneth Fearing Kenneth Flexner Fearing (July 28, 1902 – June 26, 1961) was an American poet and novelist. A major poet of the Depression era, he addressed the shallowness and consumerism of American society as he saw it, often by ironically adapting the lan ...
, novelist, editor and poet *
Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), ''Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Ci ...
, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist *
Barthold Fles Barthold "Bart" Fles (February 7, 1902 – December 19, 1989) was a Dutch-American literary agent, author, translator, editor and publisher. Among his many clients were Elias Canetti, Raymond Loewy, Heinrich Mann, Joseph Roth, Felix Salten, Igna ...
, literary agent and non-fiction writer *
Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), ''Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), ''Here I Am (novel), Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fict ...
, novelist *
Bruce Jay Friedman The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
, novelist *
Kinky Friedman Richard Samet "Kinky" Friedman (born November 1, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, and former columnist for ''Texas Monthly'' who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mar ...
, novelist and musician * Sanford Friedman, novelist * Abraham Solomon Freidus, author of bibliographic and library works *
Daniel Fuchs Daniel Fuchs (June 25, 1909 – July 26, 1993) was an American screenwriter, fiction writer, and essayist. Biography Daniel Fuchs was born to a Jewish family on the Lower East Side, Manhattan, but his family moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn whi ...
, novelist, screenwriter and essayist *
Herbert Gold Herbert Gold (born March 9, 1924) is an American novelist. Early life Gold was born on March 9, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, in to a Russian Jewish family. His parents were Samuel S. and Frieda (Frankel) Gold. His father ran a fruit store and later a ...
, novelist *
Mike Gold Michael Gold (April 12, 1894 – May 14, 1967) was the pen-name of Jewish American writer Itzok Isaac Granich. A lifelong communist, Gold was a novelist and literary critic. His semi-autobiographical novel '' Jews Without Money'' (1930) was a bes ...
, Communist novelist and literary critic * Emma Goldman, anarchist writer *
Paul Goodman Paul Goodman (1911–1972) was an American writer and public intellectual best known for his 1960s works of social criticism. Goodman was prolific across numerous literary genres and non-fiction topics, including the arts, civil rights, decen ...
, social critic and author of ''
Growing Up Absurd ''Growing Up Absurd'' is a 1960 book by Paul Goodman on the relationship between American juvenile delinquency and societal opportunities to fulfill natural needs. Contrary to the then-popular view that juvenile delinquents should be led to re ...
'' * Vivian Gornick, essayist *
Rebecca Gratz Rebecca Gratz (March 4, 1781 – August 27, 1869) was a member of thGratzfamily, who settled in the United States before the Revolutionary War. She was a Jewish American educator and philanthropist in 19th-century America. Early life Rebecca G ...
, educator and journalist *
Gerald Green Gerald Green (born January 26, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 18th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Know ...
, author and journalist *
Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...
, author of ''
Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-ch ...
'' *
Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...
, literary critic and political activist *
Alice Hoffman Alice Hoffman (born March 16, 1952) is an American novelist and young-adult and children's writer, best known for her 1995 novel ''Practical Magic'', which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name. Many of her works fall into the genre of ...
, novelist, author of Practical Magic, and thirty odd other books. *
Irving Howe Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early years Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son of ...
, literary critic *
Horace Kallen Horace Meyer Kallen (August 11, 1882 – February 16, 1974) was a German-born American philosopher who supported pluralism and Zionism. Biography Horace Meyer Kallen was born on August 11, 1882, in the town of Bernstadt, Prussian Silesia (now Bi ...
, author, philosopher and academic *
Nicole Krauss Nicole Krauss (born August 18, 1974) is an American author best known for her four novels '' Man Walks into a Room'' (2002), ''The History of Love'' (2005), ''Great House'' (2010) and '' Forest Dark'' (2017), which have been translated into 35 l ...
, novelist *
Emma Lazarus Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. She is remembered for writing the sonnet " The New Colossus", which was inspire ...
, poet and novelist *
Fran Lebowitz Frances Ann Lebowitz (; born October 27, 1950) is an American author, public speaker, and occasional actor. She is known for her sardonic social commentary on American life as filtered through her New York City sensibilities and her association ...
, author, known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities *
Isaac Leeser Isaac Leeser (December 12, 1806 – February 1, 1868) was an American Orthodox Jewish religious leader, teacher, scholar and publisher. He helped found the Jewish press of America, produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible into English, ...
, author and publisher *
Julius Lester Julius Bernard Lester (January 27, 1939 – January 18, 2018) was an American writer of books for children and adults and an academic who taught for 32 years (1971–2003) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Lester was also a civil right ...
, author, academic and African-American convert to Judaism *
Meyer Levin Meyer Levin (October 7, 1905 – July 9, 1981) was an American novelist. Perhaps best known for his work on the Leopold and Loeb case, Levin worked as a journalist (for the ''Chicago Daily News'' and, from 1933–1939, as an editor for ''Esquir ...
, novelist and journalist *
Ludwig Lewisohn Ludwig Lewisohn (May 30, 1882 – December 31, 1955) was a novelist, literary critic, the drama critic for ''The Nation'' and then its associate editor. He was the editor of the New Palestine, an American Zionist journal. He taught at the Uni ...
, novelist, essayist and editor *
Seymour Martin Lipset Seymour Martin Lipset ( ; March 18, 1922 – December 31, 2006) was an American sociologist and political scientist (President of the American Political Science Association). His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union o ...
, political sociologist * Norman Mailer, novelist *
Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...
, Pulitzer Prize winning author *
David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...
, Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Tony Award-winning author * Wallace Markfield, novelist *
Theresa Malkiel Theresa Serber Malkiel (1 May 1874 – 17 November 1949) was an American labor activist, Women's suffrage in the United States, suffragist, and educator. She was the first woman to rise from factory work to leadership in the Socialist party. Her 1 ...
, novelist and Socialist activist * Wallace Markfield, novelist *
Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...
, crime novelist * Reggie Nadelson, novelist known particularly for her mystery works *
Moyshe Nadir Yitzchak Rayz (1885, Narayiv – 1943, Woodstock), better known by his pen name Moyshe Nadir (Yiddish: משה נאדיר ; also transliterated "Moishe") was an American Yiddish language writer and satirist. Rayz was born in the town of Narayiv, in ...
, writer and journalist% *
Mordecai Manuel Noah Mordecai Manuel Noah (July 14, 1785, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – May 22, 1851, New York) was an American sheriff, playwright, diplomat, journalist, and utopian. He was born in a family of Portuguese Sephardic ancestry. He was the most import ...
, journalist, playwright and diplomat * Alan Oirich, writer, animator, director, and producer *
Joseph Opatoshu Joseph Opatoshu () (January 1, 1886 – October 7, 1954) was a Polish-born Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated du ...
, novelist and short story writer *
Cynthia Ozick Cynthia Ozick (born April 17, 1928) is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist. Biography Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City, the second of two children. She moved to the Bronx with her Belarusian-Jewish parents from Hlusk, ...
, novelist and essayist *
S. J. Perelman Sidney Joseph Perelman (February 1, 1904 – October 17, 1979) was an American humorist and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for ''The New Yorker''. He also wrote for several other magazines ...
, Oscar winning screenwriter, and novelist *
Jodi Picoult Jodi Lynn Picoult () is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels, accompanying short stories, and has also written several issues of Wonder Woman. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide, translated into 34 ...
, novelist *
Marge Piercy Marge Piercy (born March 31, 1936) is an American progressive activist and writer. Her work includes '' Woman on the Edge of Time''; '' He, She and It'', which won the 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award; and ''Gone to Soldiers'', a New York Times Best ...
, novelist and short story writer * Belva Plain, novelist * Chaim Potok, novelist and rabbi * Ayn Rand, novelist and founder of
Objectivism Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievemen ...
* Lev Raphael, novelist and essayist * Lea Bayers Rapp, non-fiction and children's fiction writer *
Avrom Reyzen Avrom Reyzen (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם רייזען; April 8, 1876 – April 2, 1953), known as Abraham Reisen, was a Yiddish writer, poet and editor, and the elder brother of the Yiddishist Zalman Reisen. Reyzen was born in Koidanov (Minsk, ea ...
, author, poet and editor *
Isaac Rosenfeld Isaac Rosenfeld (March 10, 1918 - July 14, 1956 This article also has details about Rosenfeld's upbringing, parents, siblings, wife and children.) was an American writer who became a prominent member of New York intellectual circles. Rosenfeld w ...
, essayist, short story writer and novelist *
Leo Rosten Leo Calvin Rosten (Yiddish: ; April 11, 1908 – February 19, 1997) was an American humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism, and Yiddish lexicography. Early life Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in Łód ...
, humorist and lexicographer * Norman Rosten, novelist * Henry Roth, novelist and short story writer *
Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
, known for
autobiographical fiction An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
* M. A. Rothman, inventor and speculative fiction writer *
Peter Sagal Peter Daniel Sagal (born January 31, 1965) is an American humorist, writer, and host of the National Public Radio game show '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' and the PBS special ''Constitution USA with Peter Sagal''. __TOC__ Early life, fami ...
, humorist and author *
J.D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in ''S ...
, author of ''
The Catcher in the Rye ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angs ...
'' * Yente Serdatzky, author of short stories, playwright * Lamed Shapiro, short story writer *
Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' ...
, novelist, screenwriter and playwright *
Gary Shteyngart Gary Shteyngart (; born July 5, 1972) is a Soviet-born American writer. He is the author of five novels (including ''Absurdistan'' and '' Super Sad True Love Story'') and a memoir. Much of his work is satirical. Early life Born Igor Semyonovich ...
(born 1972), Russian-born writer * Mordechai Sheftal, diarist and officer in the Continental Army *
Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...
, Yiddish language novelist and journalist, Nobel Prize winner. * Tess Slesinger, novelist and screenwriter * Susan Sontag, essayist and novelist *
Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
, novelist and patron of the arts *
George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...
(1929–2020), literary critic * Daniel Stern, novelist * Louise Stern, novelist and playwright *
Richard G. Stern Richard Gustave Stern (February 25, 1928 – January 24, 2013) was an American novelist, short story writer, and educator. Stern was born in New York City on February 25, 1928. He attended the University of North Carolina from which he gra ...
, novelist and academic * Steve Stern, novelist and short story writer whose work draws heavily on Jewish folklore and the immigrant experience; winner of the National Jewish Book Award *
Harvey Swados Harvey Swados (October 28, 1920 – December 11, 1972) was an American social critic and author of novels, short stories, essays and journalism. Family and early life Born in Buffalo, New York, Harvey Swados was the son of Aaron Meyer Swad ...
, novelist and essayist * Judd L. Teller, writer, historian, poet. *
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 ...
, novelist *
Leopold Tyrmand Leopold Tyrmand (May 16, 1920 – March 19, 1985) was a Polish novelist, writer, and editor. Tyrmand emigrated from Poland to the United States in 1966, and five years later married an American, Mary Ellen Fox. He served as editor of an anti-com ...
, writer *
Leon Uris Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 – June 21, 2003) was an American author of historical fiction who wrote many bestselling books including ''Exodus'' (published in 1958) and ''Trinity'' (published in 1976). Life and career Uris was born in Bal ...
, novelist *
Judith Viorst Judith Viorst (; née Stahl,Aarons, Leroy ''People (magazine)'', February 18, 1980 Vol. 13 No. 7. Accessed August 4, 2016. "Born in Maplewood, N.J., the daughter of an accountant and a mother 'who was a reader and a bridge player,' Judith Stahl ...
(born 1932), known for her children's literature *
Edward Lewis Wallant Edward Lewis Wallant (October 19, 1926 – December 5, 1962) was an American novelist who wrote '' The Pawnbroker'' (1961). It was adapted into an award-winning film of the same name, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Rod Steiger. He also wor ...
, novelist *
Jerome Weidman Jerome Weidman (April 4, 1913, New York City – October 6, 1998, New York City) was an American playwright and novelist. He collaborated with George Abbott on the book for the musical ''Fiorello!'' with music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldo ...
, novelist and playwright * Sadie Rose Weilerstein (1894–1993), author of children's books, including the K'tonton stories about the adventures of a thumb-sized boy * Nathaniel West, novelist and screenwriter * Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Prize winner and author of 57 books * Isaac Meyer Wise, author and rabbi * Victoria Wolff (1903–1992), German born American writer and screenwriter *
Herman Wouk Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. His other major works include ''The Winds of War'' and ...
, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist *
Anzia Yezierska Anzia Yezierska (October 29, 1880 – November 20, 1970) was a Jewish-American novelist born in Mały Płock, Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire. She emigrated as a child with her parents to the United States and lived in the ...
, novelist


See also

*
Jewish American literature Jewish American literature holds an essential place in the literary history of the United States. It encompasses traditions of writing in English, primarily, as well as in other languages, the most important of which has been Yiddish. While crit ...
* List of Jewish American poets * List of Jewish American playwrights * List of Jewish American journalists *
Multi-ethnic literature of the United States ''The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States'' (''MELUS'') is a scholarly society established in 1974. MELUS publishes a quarterly academic journal, ''MELUS''. The aim of the Society is "to expand the definition of ...
*
Before Columbus Foundation The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, "dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature". The Foundation makes annual awards for books published in ...


References

{{Reflist Authors
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 ...
Yiddish literature Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Euro ...