This is an alphabetical, referenced list of notable Jewish American authors. For other Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews.
Authors A–C Renata Adler, journalist, critic, novelist Warren Adler, novelist (The War of the Roses), short-story writerBerger, Warren (December 18, 1989). "The Spoils of War". New York. Retrieved May 26, 2026. Mary Antin, memoirist (The Promised Land) Molly Antopol, short-story writer; 2014 National Book Award nominee"The National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35, 2013" "National Book Foundation" Jacob M. Appel, novelist (The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up), short-story writer (Einstein's Beach House collection)Appel, JM. Phoning Home 2014. Max Apple, novelist, short-story writer Sholem Asch, novelist, essayist, playwright Isaac Asimov, novelist, short-story writer, prolific author of nonfiction; known for his science-fiction works about robots and for writing books in nine of the ten categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification Shalom Auslander, novelist Paul Auster, novelist Dorothy Walter Baruch, author, child psychologist Jonathan Baumbach Saul Bellow, novelist; winner, Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the National Medal of ArtsGussow, Mel; McGrath, Charles (April 6, 2005). "Saul Bellow, Who Breathed Life into American Novel, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Aimee Bender, novelist, 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" Rosebud Ben-Oni, winner, the Alice James Award (for If This Is the Age We End Discovery) Harold Bloom, literary critic Judy Blume, children's author Agnes Borinsky, young-adult author, playwright Shmuley Boteach, author of over thirty nonfiction books, including Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy and Kosher Jesus Joshua Braff, novelist Melvin Jules Bukiet, novelist Abraham Cahan, writer (including journalist); editor of Yiddish newspaper Jewish Daily Forward Hortense Calisher, novelist; president, American Academy of Arts and Letters Raphael Hayyim Isaac Carregal, colonial-era rabbi who published the first Jewish sermons in America Michael Chabon, novelist, short-story writer; winner, 2001 Pulitzer Prize (for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay)"Arctic Jews: An Interview With Michael Chabon" Dissent Magazine April 14, 2007 Arthur A. Cohen, novelist Joshua Cohen, novelist (Witz)DeAngelis, Martin, "Former Cape May Resident Receives Glowing Reviews for 800+ Page Book, Witz", The Press of Atlantic City, July 30, 2010. Retrieved January 1, 2020. "He pulls off that trick in fiction by referring to his tribe as 'The Affiliated,' but in his real life, Cohen has hardly shied away from Jewish culture. He spent five years writing for The Forward, the international Jewish newspaper whose past writers have included Nobel Prize winners Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel. Cohen also wrote for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, or 'the AP of Jewish newspapers,' as he puts it." Bernard Cooper, novelist, short-story writer Cooper – "Plenty of Jewish Authors Will Be in the Mix, including... Bernard Cooper". Jewish Journal.
D–F Edward Dahlberg, novelist, essayist Anita Diamant, non-fiction writer (including journalist), novelist (The Red Tent)Ghent, Janet Silver (February 14, 2014). "Celebrating the power of women and ritual: Author Diamant in conversation at JCCs". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. jweekly.com. Retrieved January 1, 2020 E. L. Doctorow, novelistIntersections: E.L. Doctorow on Rhythm and Writing, June 28, 2004. Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter; often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time; winner, Nobel Prize in Literature 2016https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2016/dylan/facts/, Bob Dylan The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 Joel Eisenberg, screenwriter, producer, novelist (co-wrote, with Steve Hillard, The Chronicles of Ara fantasy series) Stanley Elkin, novelist, essayist Richard Elman, novelist, journalist Nathan Englander, short-story writer, novelist; finalist, Pulitzer Prize"Translating God and Others: An Interview with Nathan Englander" Heeb Magazine April 4, 2012 Nora Ephron, journalist, screenwriter Marcia Falk, poet, liturgist, painter, translatorMarcia Falk, Jewish Women's Archive Preston Fassel, novelist, biographer, screenwriter Kenneth Fearing, novelist, editor, poet Edna Ferber, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Barthold Fles, literary agent, non-fiction writer Jonathan Safran Foer, novelist Bruce Jay Friedman, novelist Kinky Friedman, novelist, musician Sanford Friedman, novelist Abraham Solomon Freidus, author of bibliographic and library works Daniel Fuchs, novelist, screenwriter, essayist
G–J Jacob Geller, video-game critic Herbert Gold, novelist Mike Gold, communist novelist, literary critic Emma Goldman, anarchist writerEmma Goldman, Living, p. 24. Paul Goodman, social critic and author of Growing Up Absurd Vivian Gornick, essayist Rebecca Gratz, educator, journalist Gerald Green, author, including journalist Joseph Heller, novelist (Catch-22)Loveday, Veronica. "Joseph Heller." Joseph Heller (9781429802864) (2005): 1–2. History Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. Dec 1, 2010 Christopher Hitchens, literary critic, political activistLook who's talking The Observer, 14 April 2002Hitch-22, page 352. Alice Hoffman, novelist, author of Practical Magic, and thirty-odd other books. Irving Howe, literary criticRodden, John and Goffman, Ethan (2010). "Chronology". Politics and the Intellectual: Conversations With Irving Howe. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press. . Pg. xv. Horace Kallen, author, philosopher and academic Ben Joravsky, American newspaper columnist, author
K–M Daniel Keyes, novelist (Flowers for Algernon); teacher Nicole Krauss, novelist Emma Lazarus, poet, novelist Jane Leavy, sportswriter, biographer Fran Lebowitz, author (including humorist), public speaker Isaac Leeser, author, publisher Julius Lester, author, academic; African-American convert to Judaism Meyer Levin, novelist, journalist Ludwig Lewisohn, novelist, essayist, editor Seymour Martin Lipset, political sociologistThe Economist, Jan 13, 2007, p.42: "a triple outsider — working-class, Jewish and left-wing" Norman Mailer, novelist, journalist Bernard Malamud, Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Mamet, Pulitzer Prize–, Academy Award–, Golden Globe–, and Tony Award–winning author Wallace Markfield, novelist Theresa Malkiel, novelist, socialist activist Wallace Markfield, novelist Brad Meltzer, novelist Walter Mosley, crime novelistJohanna Neuman (September–October 2010) "The Curious Case of Walter Mosley". Moment Magazine.
N–R Reggie Nadelson, novelist; known particularly for her mystery works Moyshe Nadir, writer, including journalist Mordecai Manuel Noah, journalist, playwright, diplomat Joseph Opatoshu, novelist, short-story writer Cynthia Ozick, novelist, essayistBrockes, Emma,"A life in writing: Cynthia Ozick", The Guardian, 2 July 2011 Leo Pearlstein, food writer S. J. Perelman, Academy Award–winning screenwriter, novelist Jodi Picoult, novelist"The Jodi Picoult Mystery". The Jewish Chronicle. April 27, 2007. p.50. Marge Piercy, novelist, short-story writer Belva Plain, novelist Chaim Potok, novelist, rabbi Nathan Raab, author, including historian Ayn Rand, novelist; founder of Objectivism; ; Lev Raphael, novelist, essayist Lea Bayers Rapp, non-fiction writer, children's fiction writer Marcus Eli Ravage, memoirist, essayist, biographer; author of An American in the Making, The Jew Pays and others Avrom Reyzen, autobiographer, editor, poet, short-story writer Frank Rich, essayist, journalist Nathaniel Rich, essayist, novelist Simon Rich, humorist, short-story writer, novelist Isaac Rosenfeld, essayist, short-story writer, novelist Leo Rosten, humorist, lexicographer Norman Rosten, novelistJewish American Writers , by Gerhard Falk Henry Roth, novelist, short-story writer Philip Roth, known for autobiographical fictionU.S. Department of State, U.S. Life, "American Prose, 1945–1990: Realism and Experimentation" M. A. Rothman, inventor, speculative-fiction writer
S–Z Peter Sagal, writer, including humorist J. D. Salinger, short-story writer, novelist (The Catcher in the Rye) Nachman Seltzer, novelist, short-story writer, biographer Yente Serdatzky, short-story writer, playwright Lemony Snicket (pen name of Daniel Handler), novelist (A Series of Unfortunate Events, a series of children's novels) Lamed Shapiro, short-story writer Irwin Shaw, novelist, screenwriter, playwright Gary Shteyngart (born 1972), Russian-born writerWiland, Harry (September 7, 2006). "Q&A with Russian Jewish Author Gary Shteyngart". Retrieved May 27, 2026. Mordechai Sheftal, diarist; officer in the Continental Army Isaac Bashevis Singer, Yiddish-language novelist and journalist; Nobel Prize winner. Tess Slesinger, novelist, screenwriter Susan Sontag, essayist, novelist Gertrude Stein, novelist and patron of the arts George Steiner (1929–2020), literary critichttp://www.jewish-sci-tech-books.com/catalogue/general.htm Daniel Stern, novelistLanham, Fritz. "Fiction Writer was a Cullen Distinguished Professor at UH", Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2007. Louise Stern, novelist, playwright Richard G. Stern, novelist, academic Samuel Sattin (born 1982), essayist, writer of the OEL Manga series Unico, a reboot of Osamu Tezuka's Unico franchisehttps://13thdimension.com/superman-in-the-land-of-pen-and-ink-by-samuel-sattin/ Steve Stern, novelist and short-story writer; work draws heavily on Jewish folklore and the immigrant experience; winner of the National Jewish Book Award Harvey Swados, novelist, essayist Judd L. Teller, writer, including historian, journaliat, poet Jonathan Tropper, novelist Leopold Tyrmand, writerhttp://www.nationalreview.com/frum/frum031903.asp Leon Uris, novelist Judith Viorst (born 1932), children's writerViorst — "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..." Edward Lewis Wallant, novelist Jerome Weidman, novelist, playwright Sadie Rose Weilerstein (1894–1993), author of children's books, including the K'tonton stories about the adventures of a thumb-sized boy Nathanael West, novelist and screenwriter Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Prize winner and author of fifty-seven books Isaac Meyer Wise, author and rabbi Victoria Wolff (1903–1992), German-born American writer, including novelist and screenwriter Herman Wouk, Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Anzia Yezierska, novelist
See also
Jewish American literature Multi-ethnic literature of the United States Before Columbus Foundation
References