Wendy Wasserstein (Oct. 18, 1950 – Jan. 30, 2006) was an acclaimed playwright who received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 for The Heidi Chronicles. Her other plays include the following: The Sisters Rosensweig, Isn’t It Romantic, An American Daughter, Old Money, and Third. Wasserstein died from…
Julius Lester (Jan. 27, 1939 – Jan. 18, 2018) was an author of books for both children and adults. In addition to teaching at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for 32 years, he was a civil rights activist, photographer, and musician who recorded two albums of folk music and original songs. In 1982, Lester —…
Lev Raphael is a prolific author who has penned more than 20 books, including Stick up for Yourself, Coming Out of Shame, The Death of a Constant Lover, Dancing on Tisha B’av, My Germany, Little Miss Evil, Burning Down the House, Tropic of Murder, Assault with a Deadly Lie, and Criminal Kabbalah. A number of…
Walter Ellis Mosley (68) is a Jewish African-American writer (Jewish mother, non-Jewish father) who recently was awarded the prestigious National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He is the first Black man to receive the honor (although not the first Jew). Mainly known for writing best-selling crime novels, Mosley is the author…
Tony Schwartz (68) is famously known — or infamously known, depending on one’s point of view — for being the ghostwriter of the bestselling book Trump: The Art of the Deal. He says he has regretted his participation in the project for decades. Other books penned by Schwartz include What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom…
William Goldman (Aug. 12, 1931 – Nov. 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and All the President’s Men (1976). His other works include his thriller novel Marathon Man and his cult classic comedy/fantasy novel The Princess Bride, both…
Previously, we featured Ron Chernow, 71, in the Spotlight section of this website after he was the main speaker at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Now we feature him again in recognition of his writing Alexander Hamilton, the 2004 biography of one of America’s most notable Founding Fathers. Chernow’s book later became the inspiration…
David Litt was a speechwriter for President Barack Obama; he specialized in writing funny lines to be delivered by the president. (He began working in the White House at the age of 24.) His first book, comedic memoir Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years, was a New York Times bestseller. His new book,…
Bruce Feiler, 55, has authored 15 books — six of which have appeared consecutively on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Two of the titles are Council of Dads and Life Is In The Transitions. Feiler writes the “This Life” column in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and is a television…
Journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, born in 1973, wrote Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield (2015) and The Dressmaker of Khair Khana (2011), both of which were on the The New York Times best-seller list. Her book Ashley’s War is being turned into a feature film…
To learn about these and many more AmazingJews, watch a compilation put together by JewOfTheWeek.net in 2015 and posted on YouTube.