This is an alphabetical, referenced list of notable Jewish American authors. For other Jewish Americans, see Lists of American Jews.
Authors
- Renata Adler, journalist, critic and novelist.
- Warren Adler, novelist and short story writer, known for The War of the Roses
- Mary Antin, 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, novelist and short story writer
- Sholem 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 nine of the ten categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification
- Shalom Auslander, novelist
- Paul Auster, novelist
- Dorothy Walter Baruch, author and child psychologist
- Jonathan Baumbach
- 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
- Rosebud Ben-Oni, winner of 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 and playwright
- Shmuley Boteach, author of over 30 nonfiction books, including Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy and Kosher Jesus
- Joshua Braff, novelist
- Abraham Cahan, journalist, author and editor of Yiddish newspaper Jewish Daily Forward
- Hortense Calisher, novelist and president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- Raphael Hayyim Isaac Carregal, colonial era rabbi who published the first Jewish sermons in America
- Melvin Jules Bukiet, novelist
- Michael Chabon, novelist and short story writer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
- Arthur A. Cohen, novelist
- Joshua Cohen, novelist, author of Witz
- Bernard Cooper, novelist, short story writer
- Edward Dahlberg, novelist and essayist
- Anita Diamant, writer and author of the novel, The Red Tent
- E. L. Doctorow, novelist
- Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter, often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016
- Joel Eisenberg, novelist, screenwriter and producer, author of "The Chronicles of Ara" fantasy series with Steve Hillard
- Stanley Elkin, novelist and essayist
- Richard Elman, novelist and journalist
- Nathan Englander, short story writer and novelist, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
- Nora Ephron, journalist and screenwriter
- Marcia Falk, poet, liturgist, painter, translator
- Preston Fassel, novelist, biographer, and screenwriter
- Kenneth Fearing, novelist, editor and poet
- Edna Ferber, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
- Barthold Fles, literary agent and non-fiction writer
- Jonathan Safran Foer, novelist
- Bruce Jay Friedman, novelist
- Kinky Friedman, novelist and musician
- Sanford Friedman, novelist
- Abraham Solomon Freidus, author of bibliographic and library works
- Daniel Fuchs, novelist, screenwriter and essayist
- Jacob Geller, video game critic
- Herbert Gold, novelist
- Mike Gold, Communist novelist and literary critic
- Emma Goldman, anarchist writer
- Paul Goodman, social critic and author of Growing Up Absurd
- Vivian Gornick, essayist
- Rebecca Gratz, educator and journalist
- Gerald Green, author and journalist
- Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22
- Christopher Hitchens, literary critic and political activist
- Alice Hoffman, novelist, author of Practical Magic, and thirty odd other books.
- Irving Howe, literary critic
- Horace Kallen, author, philosopher and academic
- Ben Joravsky American newspaper columnist, author
- Daniel Keyes, novelist, author of Flowers for Algernon, and teacher.
- Nicole Krauss, novelist
- Emma Lazarus, poet and novelist
- Jane Leavy, sportswriter and biographer
- Fran Lebowitz, author, humorist and public speaker
- Isaac Leeser, author and publisher
- Julius Lester, author, academic and African-American convert to Judaism
- Meyer Levin, novelist and journalist
- Ludwig Lewisohn, novelist, essayist and editor
- Seymour Martin Lipset, political sociologist
- Norman Mailer, novelist and 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 and Socialist activist
- Wallace Markfield, novelist
- Brad Meltzer, novelist
- Walter Mosley, crime novelist
- Reggie Nadelson, novelist known particularly for her mystery works
- Moyshe Nadir, writer and journalist%
- Mordecai Manuel Noah, journalist, playwright and diplomat
- Joseph Opatoshu, novelist and short story writer
- Cynthia Ozick, novelist and essayist
- Leo Pearlstein, food writer
- S. J. Perelman, Oscar winning screenwriter, and novelist
- Jodi Picoult, novelist
- Marge Piercy, novelist and short story writer
- Belva Plain, novelist
- Chaim Potok, novelist and rabbi
- Nathan Raab, author and historian
- Ayn Rand, novelist and founder of Objectivism
- Lev Raphael, novelist and essayist
- Lea Bayers Rapp, non-fiction and children's fiction writer
- Marcus Eli Ravage, memoirist, essayist and biographer; author of An American in the Making, The Jew Pays and others.
- Avrom Reyzen, author, poet and editor
- Frank Rich, essayist and journalist
- Nathaniel Rich, novelist and essayist
- Simon Rich, humorist, short story writer and novelist
- Isaac Rosenfeld, essayist, short story writer and novelist
- Leo Rosten, humorist and lexicographer
- Norman Rosten, novelist
- Henry Roth, novelist and short story writer
- Philip Roth, known for autobiographical fiction
- M. A. Rothman, inventor and speculative fiction writer
- Peter Sagal, humorist and author
- J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye
- Nachman Seltzer, novelist, short story writer and biographer
- Yente Serdatzky, author of short stories, playwright
- Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Lamed Shapiro, short story writer
- Irwin Shaw, novelist, screenwriter and playwright
- Gary Shteyngart (born 1972), Russian-born writer
- Mordechai Sheftal, diarist and officer in the Continental Army
- Isaac Bashevis Singer, Yiddish language novelist and journalist, Nobel Prize winner
- Tess Slesinger, novelist and screenwriter
- Susan Sontag, essayist and novelist
- Gertrude Stein, novelist and patron of the arts
- George Steiner (1929âÂÂ2020), literary critic
- Daniel Stern, novelist
- Louise Stern, novelist and playwright
- Richard G. Stern, novelist and academic
- Samuel Sattin (born 1982), essayist and writer of the OEL Manga series Unico a reboot of Osamu Tezuka's Unico franchise.
- 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, novelist and essayist
- Judd L. Teller, writer, historian, poet.
- Jonathan Tropper, novelist
- Leopold Tyrmand, writer
- Leon Uris, novelist
- Judith Viorst (born 1932), known for her children's literature
- Edward Lewis Wallant, novelist
- Jerome Weidman, novelist and playwright
- Sadie Rose Weilerstein (1894âÂÂ1993), 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 57 books
- Isaac Meyer Wise, author and rabbi
- Victoria Wolff (1903âÂÂ1992), German born American writer and screenwriter
- Herman Wouk, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
- Anzia Yezierska, novelist
See also
References