List of Jewish American authors

This is a list of notable Jewish American authors. See separate lists for playwrights and poets. For other notable Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews.

Jewish American authors

• Warren Adler, novelist and short story writer, known for The War of the Roses,^[1] Random Hearts, and The Sunset Gang ^[2]
• Molly Antopol, short story writer, 2014 National Book Award nominee ^[3]
• Jacob M. Appel, novelist (The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up) and short story writer (Einstein's Beach House)^[4]
• Max Apple, novelist and short story writer, known for memoirs about his grandparents and his collection The Oranging of America, in which he fantastically reimagines the burgeoning commercial monoculture of the 1970s
• 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^[5]
• Shalom Auslander, Novelist, short-story writer, memoirist
• Dorothy Walter Baruch, Psychologist, children's stories and their development
• Saul Bellow, novelist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts^[6]
• Aimee Bender, novelist and short story writer, known for her often fantastic and surreal plots and characters^[7]
• Harold Bloom, literary critic
• Michael Chabon, novelist and short story writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay ^[8]
• Ze'ev Chafets, columnist and author
• Bernard Cooper, novelist, short story writer^[9]
• E.L. Doctorow, novelist^[10]
• Richard Ellmann, literary critic, won National Book Award for Nonfiction
• Nathan Englander, short story writer and novelist, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize^[11]
• Barthold Fles,^[12] literary agent and non-fiction writer
• Jonathan Safran Foer, novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for novels Everything Is Illuminated (2002) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
• Emma Goldman, anarchist writer^[13]
• Rebecca Goldstein, novelist and philosopher
• Allegra Goodman, novelist and short story writer
• Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22^[14]
• Christopher Hitchens, literary critic and political activist^[15][16]
• Dara Horn, novelist
• Irving Howe, literary critic^[17]
• Erica Jong, novelist and poet, best known for second-wave feminist work Fear of Flying (1973)
• Roger Kahn, author of The Boys of Summer (1972)
• Jerzy Kosinski, author of The Painted Bird
• Nicole Krauss, best known for her three novels, Man Walks Into a Room (2002), The History of Love (2005) and Great House (2010)
• Ewa Kuryluk, author of Veil of Veronica
• Emma Lazarus, poet and novelist^[18]
• Fran Lebowitz, author, known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities^[19]
• Harry Levin, literary critic and Joyce scholar
• Norman Mailer, novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate
• Bernard Malamud, novelist, won National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize
• Cindy Margolis, author of Having a Baby... when the Old-fashioned Way Isn't Working, Hope and Help for Everyone Facing Infertility
• Seymour Martin Lipset, political sociologist ^[20]
• Leonard Michaels, writer of short stories, novels, and essays
• Reggie Nadelson, novelist known particularly for her mystery works^[21]
• Mark Obama Ndesandjo, author, half-brother of President Barack Obama^[22]
• Tillie Olsen, first-wave feminist writer, best known for her novella Tell Me a Riddle, title story in a collection of four short stories and winner of the O. Henry Prize in 1961
• Cynthia Ozick, short story writer, novelist, and essayist^[23][24]
• Grace Paley, short story writer and poet; finalist for both National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize
• S. J. Perelman, humorist, essayist, screenwriter
• Joan Peters, author of From Time Immemorial
• Jodi Picoult, novelist^[25]
• Daniel Pinkwater, children's and young adult author
• Chaim Potok, author and rabbi
• Ayn Rand, novelist and founder of Objectivism^[26]
• Lea Bayers Rapp,^[27] non-fiction and children's fiction writer
• Judith Rossner, novelist Looking for Mr. Goodbar
• Henry Roth, novelist and short story writer
• Philip Roth, known for autobiographical fiction that explored Jewish and American identity^[28]
• Norman Rosten, novelist^[29]
• J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye^[30]
• Gary Shteyngart (born 1972), Russian-born writer^[31]
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, leading figure in Yiddish literature, won Nobel Prize^[32]
• George Steiner (born 1929), literary critic^[33]
• Daniel Stern, novelist^[34]
• Louise Stern, novelist and playwright^[35]
• Steve Stern, novelist and short story writer whose work draws heavily on Jewish folklore and the immigrant experience. winner of the National Jeweish Book Award. ^[36]
• Jonathan Tropper, novelist^[37]
• Karen X. Tulchinsky, novelist and screenwriter
• Leopold Tyrmand, writer^[38]
• Leon Uris (1924-2009), historical novelist
• Judith Viorst (born 1932), known for her children's literature^[39]
• Sadie Rose Weilerstein (1894-1993), author of children's books, including the K'tonton stories about the adventures of a thumb-sized boy^[40]
• Nathanael West, novelist
• Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author of 57 books^[41]

See also

• Jewish American literature
• List of Jewish American poets
• List of Jewish American playwrights
• List of Jewish American journalists
• Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
• Before Columbus Foundation

References

1. "The Spoils of War" New York Magazine December 18, 1989
2. "Yiddish with Subtitles - A First on Television" The Jewish Press April 5, 1991
3. "The National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35, 2013" "National Book Foundation"
4. Appel, JM. Phoning Home 2014
5. Seiler, Edward; Jenkins, John H. (June 27, 2008). "Isaac Asimov FAQ". Isaac Asimov Home Page. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
6. Mel Gussow and Charles McGrath, Saul Bellow, Who Breathed Life Into American Novel, Dies at 89, The New York Times April 6, 2005.
7. "other Jewish authors who may be of interest... Bettina Aptheker... Aimee Bender"
8. "Arctic Jews: An Interview With Michael Chabon" Dissent Magazine April 14, 2007
9. Cooper — "Plenty of Jewish authors will be in the mix, including... Bernard Cooper"
10. Intersections: E.L. Doctorow on Rhythm and Writing, June 28, 2004.
11. "Translating God and Others: An Interview with Nathan Englander" Heeb Magazine April 4, 2012
12. Love, Edmund (1988). Hanging on: or, How to get through a depression and enjoy life. Wayne State University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-8143-1931-4. I finished the book in 1941 and sent it off to Barthold Fles, a New York literary agent who had been recommended to me. Mr. Fles was a Jew and in March, 1941, Jews were pretty sensitive about heroic German naval officers. To say that Mr. Fles was insulted was the understatement of the year.
13. Emma Goldman, Living, p. 24.
14. Loveday, Veronica. "Joseph Heller." Joseph Heller (9781429802864) (2005): 1–2. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. Dec 1, 2010
15. Look who's talking The Observer, 14 April 2002
16. Hitch-22, page 352.
17. Rodden, John and Goffman, Ethan (2010). "Chronology". Politics and the Intellectual: Conversations With Irving Howe. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. ISBN 9781557535511. Pg. xv.
18. "Jewish Women's Archive: Emma Lazarus". Retrieved 2008-01-10.
19. Lebowitz — "Jewish figures such as... author Fran Lebowitz"
20. The Economist, Jan 13, 2007, p.42: "a triple outsider — working-class, Jewish and left-wing"
21. "Stay cold-blooded in the sun". Jewish Chronicle (London). Retrieved 2012-04-02.
22. "CNN.com Video". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
23. Articles about Cynthia Ozick, New York Times
24. Emma Brockes. "A life in writing: Cynthia Ozick", The Guardian, 2 July 2011
25. Jewish Chronicle, April 27, 2007 p.50: "The Jodi Picoult mystery"
26. Heller 2009, pp. 3–5; Britting 2004, pp. 2–3; Burns 2009, pp. 9
27. "Lea Bayers Rapp". Kensington Books. As a Jewish daughter, wife, and mother, she has both yeshiva and secular backgrounds and writes from vast personal experience that includes constant joyous rounds of bar and bat mitzvahs, engagement parties, bridal showers, and weddings.
28. U.S. Department of State, U.S. Life, "American Prose, 1945–1990: Realism and Experimentation"
29. Jewish American Writers, by Gerhard Falk
30. "J.D. Salinger". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. January 1, 1919. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
31. Shteyngart — "Russian Jewish Author Gary Shteyngart"
32. Carr 1992.
33. http://www.jewish-sci-tech-books.com/catalogue/general.htm
34. Lanham, Fritz. "Fiction Writer was a Cullen Distinguished Professor at UH", Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2007.
35. Gray, Freddy (14 May 2011). "The chattering classes". The Spectator (14 May 2011). Retrieved 26 September 2014.
36. https://www.graywolfpress.org/author-list/steve-stern
38. http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/frum031903.asp
39. Viorst — "Two Jewish children's authors have events of note going on this week. At Pepperdine's Smother's Theatre, see the staged musical adaptation of Judith Viorst's..."
40. Ingall, Carol K. (2010). The Women who Reconstructed American Jewish Education, 1910-l965. UPNE. pp. 117–. ISBN 9781584658566. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
41. "Elie Wiesel". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 17 May 2011.