List of British Jewish writers

List of British Jewish writers is a list that includes writers (novelists, poets, playwrights, journalists and others) from the United Kingdom and its predecessor states who are or were Jewish or of Jewish descent.

Authors, A-J

• Grace Aguilar,[1] novelist and poet
• Naomi Alderman,[2] novelist, winner of the 2006 Orange Award for new writers
• Rose Allatini, novelist. (Also wrote under the names A.T. Fitzroy, Lucian Wainwright and Eunice Buckley.)
• Lisa Appignanesi,[3] novelist
• Gilad Atzmon, Holocaust denier, anti-Semite, author, writer and musician, [4]
• Alain de Botton,[5] writer
• Caryl Brahms,[6] writer
• David Bret, biographer, broadcaster and chansonnier (French-born; Jewish father)
• Elias Canetti,[7] novelist, man of letters, 1981 Nobel Prize (Bulgarian-born)
• Chapman Cohen,[8] writer on secularism
• Jackie Collins,[9] novelist
• Alan Coren,[10] humorous writer; his children, Giles and Victoria, are also writers
• Charlotte Dacre,[11] novelist and poet
• Lionel Davidson (Hull 1922-2009), thriller novelist, Golden Dagger winner, famous for "The night of Wenceslas", "Chelsea murders", "Kolinsky Heights". Lived briefly in Jaffa, Israel at the invitation of the government.
• Jenny Diski,[12] writer
• Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), novelist, poet, playwright, writer, and prime minister[13]
• Isaac D'Israeli,[14] writer
• Richard Ellmann,[15] literary scholar and biographer
• Moris Farhi, writer (Turkish-born)[16]
• Benjamin Farjeon[17]
• Eleanor Farjeon, daughter of Benjamin Farjeon
• Gilbert Frankau,[18] writer
• Gillian Freeman,[19] novelist and screenwriter
• Stephen Fry,[20] actor and writer
• Neil Gaiman,[21] fantasy writer
• Ralph Glasser, wrote Growing up in the Gorbals
• Louis Golding,[22] novelist
• Lewis Goldsmith, journalist and political writer[23]
• Linda Grant,[24] novelist
• Charlotte Haldane,[25] feminist writer
• Basil Henriques[26]
• Muriel Gray,[27] author, The Tube presenter
• Zoë Heller,[28] author (Jewish father)
• Noreena Hertz,[29] great granddaughter of Joseph Hertz (Chief Rabbi of the British Empire)
• Anthony Horowitz, works include the Alex Rider series
• Eva Ibbotson, known for her award-winning children's books and for her romance novels
• Joseph Jacobs,[30] folklorist
• Howard Jacobson,[31] writer and broadcaster
• Ruth Prawer Jhabvala,[32] novelist and screenwriter
• Gabriel Josipovici, novelist and short story writer[33]

Authors, K-Z

• Judith Kerr,[34] children's writer
• Gerald Kersh,[35] novelist
• Matthew Kneale,[36] writer (Jewish mother)
• Arthur Koestler,[37] novelist and critic
• Bernard Kops,[38] poet
• Marghanita Laski,[39] writer
• Stephen Laughton, playwright
• Sir Sidney Lee (1859–1926),[40] biographer and literary scholar
• Joseph Leftwich,[41] writer, one of the Whitechapel Boys
• David Levi,[42] writer on Jewish subjects
• Amy Levy (1861–1889), poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist
• Paul Levy, food writer, biographer; long rabbinical pedigree[43]
• Emanuel Litvinoff,[44] novelist
• Leo Marks,[45] cryptographer and screenwriter
• Anna Maxted, writer, journalist
• George Mikes, Hungarian-born comic writer[46]
• Santa Montefiore,[47] author (convert)
• Simon Sebag Montefiore,[48] writer
• Joseph Pardo (c. 1624 – 1677), hazzan and writer
• Alexander Piatigorsky,[49] writer, philosopher, culture theorist; winner of the 2002 Russian Bely Prize for literature
• Harold Pinter,[50] writer, playwright
• Frederic Raphael,[51] screenwriter, novelist and critic
• Adele Rose,[52] television script writer
• Michael Rosen,[53] novelist, poet and broadcaster
• Bernice Rubens,[54] novelist
• Nina Salaman, poet and translator
• Will Self,[55] novelist (Jewish mother)
• J. David Simons, novelist
• Muriel Spark,[56] novelist (Jewish father, possible Jewish mother; converted to Catholicism later in life)[57]
• William Sutcliffe, novelist; New Boy (1986), Are You Experienced? (1997), Whatever Makes You Happy (2008), and The Wall (2013), set in an Israeli colony
• Mitchell Symons, writer
• Adam Thirlwell, novelist
• Fredric Warburg, author and publisher
• Stephen Winsten,[58] writer
• Leonard Woolf,[59] writer and activist
• Israel Zangwill, novelist[60]
• Theodore Zeldin, writer

Poets

• Dannie Abse,[61] poet and physician
• Al Alvarez,[62] poet
• Ivor Cutler,[63] poet, humorist, musician
• Elaine Feinstein,[64] poet, writer, biographer
• Rose Fyleman,[65] children's writer
• Karen Gershon,[66] German-born poet
• Philip Hobsbaum,[67] poet
• Jenny Joseph, poet[68]
• Amy Levy,[69] poet and novelist
• Michael Hamburger OBE [70] poet and translator
• Vivian de Sola Pinto,[71] poet

• John Rodker, poet and publisher[72]
• Isaac Rosenberg,[73] war poet
• Jon Silkin,[74] poet
• Arthur Waley, poet and prose writer
• Humbert Wolfe,[75] poet and civil servant

Playwrights

• Peter Barnes,[76] playwright
• Steven Berkoff,[77] playwright, actor, author, and theatre director
• Ronald Harwood,[78] playwright and screenwriter
• Tom Kempinski,[79] playwright and screenwriter
• Stephen Laughton,[80] playwright
• Patrick Marber,[81] playwright and comedian
• Harold Pinter,[50] playwright
• Jack Rosenthal,[82] TV playwright
• Peter and Anthony Shaffer,[83] playwrights
• Tom Stoppard.[84] playwright
• Alfred Sutro,[40] playwright
• Arnold Wesker,[85] playwright

Journalists

• David Aaronovitch
• Barbara Amiel[86]
• Lionel Blue, rabbi and journalist
• Alex Brummer, economic and financial journalist and biographer
• Ian Buruma,[87] Dutch-born author and journalist
• Nick Cohen
• Giles Coren
• John Diamond,[88] journalist
• Jonathan Freedland,[89] journalist
• Ernest Abraham Hart[90]
• Matthew Kalman, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Report
• Dominic Lawson,[91] journalist
• Nigella Lawson,[92] cookery writer
• Norman Lebrecht,[93] journalist, writer and critic
• Bernard Levin,[94] journalist and broadcaster
• Emily Maitlis,[95] TV newscaster and reporter
• Robert Peston,[96] BBC Business Editor
• Melanie Phillips,[97] journalist
• Eve Pollard,[98] journalist and newspaper editor
• Marjorie Proops, agony aunt
• Richard Quest,[99] CNN International anchorman
• Kimberly Quinn,[100] publisher
• Claire Rayner,[101] agony aunt
• Jon Ronson,[102] journalist, author, documentary filmmaker and radio presenter
• L. J. K. Setright,[103] motoring journalist
• Jon Sopel,[104] journalist; presents The Politics Show on BBC One; one of the lead presenters on News 24
• Victor Weisz, Vicky,[105] cartoonist

References

1.  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901). "Aguilar, Grace". The Jewish Encyclopedia. 1. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 274–275.
2. Edemariam, Aida (20 February 2006). "Aida Edemariam meets Jewish writer Naomi Alderman". the Guardian.
3. Brown, Andrew (28 April 2001). "The Guardian Profile: Eva Hoffman". the Guardian.
4. "Gilad Atzom". adl.org.
5. Harris, Alex (2009). "Profile: Life in an ivory tower? It's not for me, says author Alain". The Jewish Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
6. Obituary, Jewish Chronicle, Dec. 10, 1982
7. "Canetti Elias Zurich Switzerland". switzerland.isyours.com.
8. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "the elder son of Enoch Cohen, a Jewish confectioner, and his wife, Deborah Barnett"
9. "Jackie Collins". www.nndb.com.
10. The Express 15 January 2005; David Robson at large: "a book of pieces by Alan Coren, a Jewish humorous writer"
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 February 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. "Home - Literature". www.contemporarywriters.com.
13. Kebbel, Thomas Edward (1888). "Disraeli, Benjamin" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 101–107.
14. "D'ISRAELI, ISAAC - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
15. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "the second of the three sons (there were no daughters) of James Isaac Ellmann, lawyer, a Jewish Romanian immigrant, and his wife, Jeanette Barsook, an immigrant from Kiev in Ukraine"
16. The Times, 6/7/06 p34: "A Call by Jews in Britain" (advert signed by 300 British Jews)
17. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "His parents were Orthodox Jews"
18. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "In spite of his Jewish descent his sympathies were with the extreme right"
19. Reading, The University of. "Papers of Gillian Freeman - University of Reading". www.reading.ac.uk.
20. "Official site of Stephen Fry". Official site of Stephen Fry.
21. Rabinovitch, Dina (12 December 2005). "A writer's life: Neil Gaiman" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
22. "Louis Golding - British author".
23. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "he was of Portuguese Jewish descent"
24. "Page or Article Not Found « Linda Grant". www.lindagrant.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
25. "Charlotte Haldane".
26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
27. "Muriel Gray from The Gazetteer for Scotland".
28. "Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com.
29. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 April 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
30. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 April 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
31. "Howard Jacobson". www.somethingjewish.co.uk.
32. Liukkonen, Petri. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 9 February 2007.. Quote: "Anglo-Indian writer ... Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was born in Cologne, Germany. Her father, a lawyer, was of Polish-Jewish origin and her mother was German-Jewish. Jhabvala attended Jewish segregated school before she emigrated in 1939 with her family to Britain."
33. JYB 2005 p215
34. BBC. "BBC - Radio 4 - Woman's Hour -Judith Kerr". www.bbc.co.uk.
35. "Biography". harlanellison.com.
36. "You are being redirected..." www.ajr.org.uk.
37. "Arthur Koestler". www.nytimes.com.
38. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
39. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
40. av. "Shtetl: ISRAEL COHEN - JEWISH LIFE IN MODERN TIMES". www.ibiblio.org.
41. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 December 2004. Retrieved 7 December 2004.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
42. Dictionary of National Biography: "Jewish controversialist, born in London in 1740, was son of Mordecai Levi, a member of the London congregation of German and Polish Jews"
43. "Finger Lickin' Good: A Kentucky Childhood" (London 1986)
44. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
45. "Leo Marks". www.mishalov.com.
46. Encyclopaedia Judaica vol 6, column 789
47. The Independent Feb 7, 2005; online here Findarticles Archived 2009-04-14 at the Wayback Machine accessed 11 Dec 2006
48. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
49. Parfitt, Tudor (5 January 2010). "Alexander Piatigorsky obituary". the Guardian.
51. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
52. Frot, Mathilde (30 December 2020). "Coronation Street writer Adele Rose dies aged 87". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
53. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 January 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
54. "Bernice Rubens". www.somethingjewish.co.uk.
55. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
56. "The mistress of mischief". 8 March 2004 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
57. Jewish Chronicle 13/3/1998 p1: "Dame Muriel Spark, the author of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and several other celebrated works, is halachically Jewish." (Says her mother was Jewish too.)
58. Jewish Quarterly article on the Whitechapel Boys Archived 2004-12-07 at the Wayback Machine
59. Spender, Stephen. "The Perfectly Candid Man".
60. "Israel Zangwill". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
61. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 December 2005. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
62. "Famous quotes by Al Alvarez". Quoteopia!. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
63. Ltd, Not Panicking. "h2g2 - Oops". www.bbc.co.uk.
64. "Celebrating Jewish Women". www.jwn.org.uk.
65. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "Her father was in the lace trade, and the family were freethinking Jews"
66. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
67. Brownjohn, Alan (7 July 2005). "Obituary: Philip Hobsbaum". the Guardian.
68. The Times (London); 23/11/02; Amanda Craig; p6
69. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 January 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
70. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jun/11/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries
71. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
72. Anglo-Jewish poetry from Isaac Rosenberg to Elaine Feinstein by Peter Lawson; ISBN 0-85303-617-9
73. "Steven Connor". www.bbk.ac.uk.
74. "Jon Silkin". www.bookrags.com.
75. Concise Dictionary of National Biography: "born Umberto Wolff in Milan of Jewish parentage"
76. Billington, Michael (5 July 2004). "Obituary: Peter Barnes". the Guardian.
77. Anderson, Hephzibah (24 October 2013). "Playwright Steven Berkoff to Haaretz: Anti-Zionism Is anti-Semitic Poison in Guise" – via Haaretz.
78. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 April 2005. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
79. "Neil McPherson - Finborough Theatre". www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk.
80. "What's on - Royal Court". Royal Court.
81. "Angry young man no more". The Age. 17 July 2003.
82. "The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Encyclopedia of Television". www.museum.tv.
83. Fountain, Nigel (8 November 2001). "Obituary: Anthony Shaffer". the Guardian.
84. Sommer, CurtainUp,Elyse. "Playwrights'Album-Tom Stoppard - a Curtainup Feature". www.curtainup.com.
85. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
86. International Who's who of Authors and Writers, Volume 23, Europa Publications, Taylor & Francis Group, 2008, page 22
87. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 March 2005. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
88. Rayner, Jay (2 March 2001). "Obituary: John Diamond". the Guardian.
89. Freedland, Jonathan (14 December 2005). "Jonathan Freedland: The sickness bequeathed by the west to the Muslim world". the Guardian.
90. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: "as a Jew, and therefore subject to the University Test Acts, Hart decided against university entry"
91. Jewish Chronicle, July 29, 2005 p.24: "Lawson - one of the few Jewish editors of a national paper"
92. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
93. "jewish comment uk israel news". www.jewishcomment.com.
94. Crewe, Quentin (10 August 2004). "Obituary: Bernard Levin". the Guardian.
95. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
96. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
97. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 February 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
99. Gibson, Owen (13 November 2006). "Look east". the Guardian.
100. "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE". www.telegraphindia.com.
101. "Interview with Claire Rayner". www.somethingjewish.co.uk.
102. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 August 2006. Retrieved 8 April 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
103. "L.J.K. Setright obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 17 September 2005.
104. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
105. Concise Dictionary of National Biography: "born in Germany of Hungarian Jewish parents"

Sources

• JYB = Jewish Year Book

External links

• Jinfo

See also

• List of Scottish Jews#Arts, literature and music
• Lists of Jews
• List of British Jews