authors The Best Jewish Authors  

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List Rules Jewish authors and writers. Vote up the best authors who are Jewish.

Some of history’s most influential and beloved novels and other writings were written by Jewish authors. Who wasn’t impacted by The Diary of a Young Girl, Amadeus, The Pianist, The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, The Chosen, or The Crucible? Who are the best Jewish authors? Vote up the best authors below to see how they rank.
 
The Jewish authors on this list have written some of the most beloved works of all time, telling stories we love to read to our children, stories that make us grateful for the ones we love, and stories that compel us to see the world through more compassionate eyes and motivate us to be the best versions of ourselves. Some of their stories are simply engaging and fun to read as well.
 
This list has been ranked by the community and features the best Jewish authors of all time including, Anne Frank, Franz Kafka, Karl Marx, Joseph Heller, Arthur Miller, Shel Silverstein, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Michael Chabon, and Tom Stoppard. Vote up the best Jewish writers below and see where the authors you think are the best rank.

1
62 30
Franz Kafka is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Franz Kafka The Metamorphosis, The Trial, The Castle

2
33 9
Maimonides is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Maimonides Commentary on the Mishna, Treatise on Poisons and Their Antidotes

3
45 22
Philip Roth is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Philip Roth Exit Ghost, American Pastoral, The Human Stain

4
33 14
Isaac Bashevis Singer is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Isaac Bashevis Singer The Magician of Lublin, A Day of Pleasure

5
43 23
Sigmund Freud is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Sigmund Freud The Interpretation of Dreams, The Ego and the Id, Civilization and Its Discontents

6
40 21
Marcel Proust is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Marcel Proust In Search of Lost Time, The Prisoner, The Fugitive

7
40 23
Arthur Miller is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Arthur Miller The Crucible, The Misfits, Death of a Salesman

8
30 15
Saul Bellow is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Saul Bellow The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog

9
42 26
Elie Wiesel is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Elie Wiesel Night, Dawn, The Oath

10
24 11
Chaim Potok is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Chaim Potok The Chosen, The Gift of Asher Lev

11
27 14
Joseph Heller is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Joseph Heller Catch-22, Something Happened

12
44 30
Anne Frank is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Anne Frank The Diary of a Young Girl

13
19 9
Bernard Malamud is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Bernard Malamud The Natural, The Fixer

14
20 10
Arthur Koestler is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon, The Thirteenth Tribe

The Best Christmas Songs Written by Jewish Songwriters

15
20 10
Neil Simon is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Neil Simon The Good Doctor, Biloxi Blues, Lost in Yonkers

16
27 17
Shel Silverstein is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Shel Silverstein Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light In the Attic, The Giving Tree

17
18 9
Isaac Babel is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Isaac Babel Konarmiia, The Odessa Tales, You Must Know Everything

18
22 13
Leon Uris is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Leon Uris Exodus, Mila 18, QB VII

19
10 2
Clarice Lispector is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
LeonardoLima added Clarice Lispector The Hour of the Star, The Passion According to G.H., Un apprentissage

20
18 10
Maurice Sendak is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Maurice Sendak Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There

21
25 17
Ayn Rand is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
pfment added Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, The Fountainhead

The Top Must-Read Books of All-Time

22
19 12
Michael Chabon is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Michael Chabon Wonder Boys, Summerland, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

23
15 9
Tom Stoppard is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Tom Stoppard Empire of the Sun, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare in Love

24
16 10
Shlomo Sand is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Mollevangsvagen added Shlomo Sand The Invention of the Jewish People, The Invention of the Land of Israel

25
11 6
Max Nordau is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Mollevangsvagen added Max Nordau A question of honor, Degeneration

26
15 11
Lillian Hellman is listed (or ranked) 26 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Lillian Hellman The Children's Hour, Watch on the Rhine, The Chase

27
3 0
Joseph Roth is listed (or ranked) 27 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Matthias Freise added Joseph Roth Radetzky March, Juden auf Wanderschaft, Hotel Savoy

28
3 0
Georges Perec is listed (or ranked) 28 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
EnricoValtellina added Georges Perec A Man Asleep, The Man Who Sleeps, Série noire

25 Famous People with Jewish Fathers

29
9 7
Bruno Schulz is listed (or ranked) 29 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Bruno Schulz Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, The Street of Crocodiles

30
8 6
Howard Jacobson is listed (or ranked) 30 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Howard Jacobson Coming from Behind, In the Land of Oz

31
8 7
Irène Némirovsky is listed (or ranked) 31 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Irène Némirovsky Fire In the Blood

32
19 19
Norman Finkelstein is listed (or ranked) 32 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Mollevangsvagen added Norman Finkelstein The Politics of Anti-Semitism, Beyond Chutzpah, The Holocaust Industry

33
1 0
Osip Mandelstam is listed (or ranked) 33 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Matthias Freise added Osip Mandelstam Topůrko pro kata, Voyage en Arménie, Moscow & Voronezh notebooks

34
1 0
Louis wolfson is listed (or ranked) 34 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
EnricoValtellina added Louis wolfson

35
36 38
Karl Marx is listed (or ranked) 35 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Karl Marx The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital

The Most Overrated Books of All Time

36
8 8
Mordecai Richler is listed (or ranked) 36 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
NicoleSimmonsMaron added Mordecai Richler Fun with Dick and Jane, Fun with Dick and Jane, Room at the Top

37
6 6
Henry Roth is listed (or ranked) 37 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Henry Roth From Bondage, A Diving Rock on the Hudson, Shifting Landscape

38
6 6
Harry Kemelman is listed (or ranked) 38 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Harry Kemelman Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, The Nine Mile Walk

39
5 5
Peter Shaffer is listed (or ranked) 39 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Peter Shaffer Five Finger Exercise, Amadeus, Equus

40
5 5
Barney's Version is listed (or ranked) 40 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
NicoleSimmonsMaron added Barney's Version

41
6 7
Ephraim Kishon is listed (or ranked) 41 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
sk8erhorse added Ephraim Kishon The Fox in the Chicken Coop, Sallah, Blaumilch Canal

42
5 6
Władysław Szpilman is listed (or ranked) 42 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Władysław Szpilman The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945

43
4 5
Else Ury is listed (or ranked) 43 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
sk8erhorse added Else Ury Babys erstes geschichtenbuch für die kleinen von 2-5 jahren, Professors Zwillinge, Nesthäkchen. Sammelband 1-3

44
4 5
Yona Sabar is listed (or ranked) 44 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Yona Sabar My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq

45
8 10
Judith Viorst is listed (or ranked) 45 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Judith Viorst Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good

46
8 11
Tony Kushner is listed (or ranked) 46 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Tony Kushner A Meditation from Angels in America, Thinking about the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness: Essays, a Play

47
5 8
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravit... is listed (or ranked) 47 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
NicoleSimmonsMaron added Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

48
7 11
Alain de Botton is listed (or ranked) 48 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Alain de Botton Essays in Love, My Last Five Girlfriends, How Proust Can Change Your Life

49
5 9
Jacob Weisberg is listed (or ranked) 49 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Jacob Weisberg In Defense of Government: The Fall and Rise of Public Trust, In an Uncertain World

50
12 20
Nora Ephron is listed (or ranked) 50 on the list The Best Jewish Authors
Nora Ephron Wallflower at the Orgy, Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman