List of Jewish American authors

Jewish American authors

Walter Abish, novelist, poet, and short story writer

Warren Adler, novelist and short story writer, known for The War of the Roses, Random Hearts, and The Sunset Gang

Woody Allen, short story writer, screenwriter

Mary Antin, memoir writer

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, 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

Shalom Auslander, Novelist, short-story writer, memoirist

Paul Auster, novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist

Melissa Bank, novelist

Dorothy Walter Baruch, Psychologist, children's stories and their development

Peter S. Beagle, novelist

Saul Bellow, novelist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts

Aimee Bender, novelist and short story writer, known for her often fantastic and surreal plots and characters

Karen Bender, novelist and short story writer

Anne Bernays, novelist and non-fiction writer

Gina Berriault, novelist and short story writer

Alfred Bester, science fiction writer, winner of the inaugural Hugo Award in 1953

Robert Bloch, crime, science, and horror fiction writer, author of Psycho

Harold Bloom, literary critic

Judy Blum, young adult fiction writer

Jane Bowles, writer and playwright

Joshua Braff, novelist

Gayle Brandeis, novelist

David Brin, science fiction writer

Harold Brodkey, short story writer and novelist

Judy Budnitz, fiction writer

Melvin Jules Bukiet, novelist and critic

Abraham Cahan, novelist, short story writer, and journalist

Hortense Calisher, novelist and short story writer

Ethan Canin, novelist

Michael Chabon, novelist and short story writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Jerome Charyn, novelist, short story writer and playwright

Alan Cheuse, novelist and short story writer

Ze'ev Chafets, columnist and author

Harlan Coben, mystery fiction writer

Joshua Cohen, novelist

Bernard Cooper, novelist, short story writer

Avram Davidson, science fiction writer

Anita Diamant, novelist and non-fiction writer

E.L. Doctorow, novelist

Harlan Ellison, science fiction writer

Richard Ellmann, literary critic, won National Book Award for Nonfiction

Nathan Englander, short story writer and novelist, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

Nora Ephron, novelist, screenwriter, essayist

Joseph Epstein, short story writer

Howard Fast, novelist

Jules Feiffer, novelist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter

Edna Ferber, playwright and novelist

Sid Fleischman, children's writer, screenwriter, novelist

Barthold Fles, 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)

Kinky Friedman, songwriter and novelist

Alan Furst, historical spy novelist

Myla Goldberg, novelist

Emma Goldman, anarchist writer

Rebecca Goldstein, novelist and philosopher

Allegra Goodman, novelist and short story writer

Vivian Gornick, essayist

Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), children's writer and novelist

Mark Harris, novelist and biographer

Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22

Lillian Hellman, playwright, screenwriter, memoirist, novelist

Mark Helprin, novelist and journalist

Christopher Hitchens, literary critic and political activist

Russell Hoban, fantasy and science fiction writer

Laura Z. Hobson, novelist

Dara Horn, novelist

Irving Howe, literary critic

Fannie Hurst, novelist and short story writer

Rona Jaffe, novelist

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)

Bel Kaufman, novelist, granddaughter of Sholom Aleichem

Faye Kellerman, mystery writer

Jonathan Kellerman, mystery and suspense writer, psychologist

Jamaica Kincaid, novelist and essayist

Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer

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

Fran Lebowitz, author, known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities

Bruno Lessing (pseudonym of Rudolph Edgar Block), science fiction writer

Julius Lester, children's fiction, non-fiction

Harry Levin, literary critic and Joyce scholar

Ira Levin, novelist and playwright

Sam Lipsyte, novelist and short story writer

David Liss, historical novelist

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

Leonard Michaels, writer of short stories, novels, and essays

Arthur Miller, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist

Walter Mosley, novelist

Reggie Nadelson, novelist known particularly for her mystery works

Mark Obama Ndesandjo, author, half-brother of President Barack Obama

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

Grace Paley, short story writer and poet; finalist for both National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize

Sara Paretsky, mystery writer

Dorothy Parker, humorist, poet and short story writer

S. J. Perelman, humorist, essayist, screenwriter

Joan Peters, author of From Time Immemorial

Jodi Picoult, novelist

Daniel Pinkwater, children's and young adult author

Belva Plain, novelist

Chaim Potok, author and rabbi

Ayn Rand, novelist and founder of Objectivism

Lea Bayers Rapp, non-fiction and children's fiction writer

Charles Reznikoff, poet and novelist

Laura Riding, novelist, poet, short story writer

Harold Robbins, novelist

Jonathan Rosen, editor, journalist, novelist, essayist

Benjamin Rosebaum, science fiction writer

Judith Rossner, novelist Looking for Mr. Goodbar

Leo Rosten, humorist, novelist and short story writer

Henry Roth, novelist and short story writer

Philip Roth, known for autobiographical fiction that explored Jewish and American identity

Norman Rosten, novelist

Mary Doria Russell, novelist

Louis Sachar, children's writer

Peter Sagal, author of The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)

J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye

James Salter, novelist and short story writer

Lore Segal, novelist and children's writer

Maurice Sendak, children's writer and illustrator

Irwin Shaw, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story writer

Robert Sheckley, science fiction writer

Sidney Sheldon, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist

Gary Shteyngart (born 1972), Russian-born writer

Irving Shulman, novelist and screenwriter

Shel Silverstein, children's writer, poet, screenwriter, cartoonist

Roger L. Simon, novelist and screenwriter

Jo Sinclair (Ruth Seid), novelist

Isaac Bashevis Singer, leading figure in Yiddish literature, won Nobel Prize

Israel Joshua Singer, novelist and short story writer

Tess Slesinger, screenwriter, novelist and short story writer

Susan Sontag, essayist and novelist

George Steiner (born 1929), literary critic

Daniel Stern, novelist

Louise Stern, novelist and playwright

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.

Herbert Tarr, novelist

Calvin Trillin, journalist, poet, novelist

Jonathan Tropper, novelist

Karen X. Tulchinsky, novelist and screenwriter

Scott Turow, novelist and non-fiction writer

Harry Turtledove, science fiction, fantasy and alternative history writer

Leopold Tyrmand, writer

Leon Uris (1924-2009), historical novelist

Lara Vapnyar, novelist and short story writer

Judith Viorst (born 1932), known for her children's literature

Ayelet Waldman, novelist and essayist

Edward Lewis Wallant, novelist

Jennifer Weiner, novelist and short story writer

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

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author of 57 books

Herman Wouk, novelist and non-fiction writer

Anzia Yezierska, novelist

Leonard S. Zinberg (Ed Lacy), novelist