"Breathtaking." NY Journal of Books
NEWS!
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Read my Boston Globe op-ed on the current climate for Jewish writers.
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DISPLACED PERSONS included in the Winter 2025 Book Club of the Jewish Women's Archive.
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DISPLACED PERSONS chosen for Women's League Reads. Join the Zoom on Jan. 12 at 4 pm for an eye-opening conversation about writing about Israel now. Open to WL members. Info here.
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DISPLACED PERSONS selected for One Book, One Hadassah for August 2024. Watch my interview with Editor Lisa Hostein.
"This book is beautiful and wonderfully readable. I loved it."
Charles Baxter, author of The Feast of Love
"A stunning collection of literary excellence."
Weike Wang, author of Chemistry and Joan is Okay
"Elegant and heartbreakingly true stories."
Eileen Pollack, author of Maybe It's Me: On Being the Wrong Kind of Woman
“Few writers see so deeply into their characters’ lives. Prepare to feel a shock of recognition.”
Dawn Raffel, author of Boundless as the Sky
PRESS podcasts essays
REVIEWS of Displaced Persons​
"Breathtaking...characters so fully and compassionately drawn it's hard to remember they exist only in a story." NY Journal of Books
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“Deeply affecting... gorgeous tales of wandering Jews.” Hadassah
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"Remarkably varied yet stunningly cohesive collection." Lilith
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"The title of this collection doesn't lie: Leegant's characters are displaced, for sure, but in exquisitely subtle ways." Moment
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"A page-turning collection with vivid characters whose loves, fears, and experiences will be relatable to readers." Jewish Book Council
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"Leegant's talent for dialogue, swift characterization of complex human lives, and the many resentments and allegiances that tangle a family’s dynamics are on wonderful display.” Kirkus
"A treasure of expertly crafted dramas that probe the eternal themes of belonging and the quest for meaningful relationships." Jewish Journal
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"An especially timely glimpse into life both in Israel and the United States." Bookchase
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"Deliciously complex stories that explore exile, belonging, parenthood, and marriage with a sharp sense of humor and emotional wallop." Chicago Review of Books
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"Displaced Persons lets us think about the lives of others with nuance and compassion. " Tel Aviv Review of Books
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"Spare, elegant prose that packs a host of punches." Jewish News Syndicate
"One of the things literature has the power to do is give us a mirror...Displaced Persons is exactly the sort of mirror we might consult in our present moment. Reading Jewish Fiction
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"Prophetic...Leegant ponders both the Jewish and Israeli experiences." Times of Israel
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"Aside from elegant and accomplished writing, what grabbed me about these stories, especially the ones set in Israel, especially now, is the window into ordinary life." Vol. 1 Brooklyn
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"Funny and harrowing...addresses issues of Jewish identity with complexity." Foreward Reviews
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​PODCASTS & INTERVIEWS & ESSAYS
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An op-ed in The Boston Globe on the current disturbing climate for Jewish writers.
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On Writing Jewish Stories Now: An Interview with JewishBoston.
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Writing without a map on The Book I Want to Write.
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Chatting with the Yiddish Book Center's The Schmooze.​
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Fiction as a window into how life is lived on New Books Network.
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​Commentaries from the Edge. On making repair before it's too late.
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What fiction can tell us about life that nonfiction can't on Living the Next Chapter.
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"Why I Marched on Washington for the First Time in 50 Years." The Forward.
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"But How Are You Managing?" A 2024 dispatch from Tel Aviv. JBC Paper Brigade.
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Joan Leegant's new story collection, Displaced Persons, won the New American Fiction Prize; the judge was Weike Wang. Her first collection, An Hour in Paradise, won the PEN/New England Book Award and the Wallant Award, and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick. She is also the author of a novel, Wherever You Go.
Formerly a lawyer, Joan has taught at Harvard, Oklahoma State, and Cornish College in Seattle, where she was the writer-in-residence at Hugo House. For 5 years she was the visiting writer at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv where she also gave talks around the country on American literature and culture under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy and was a volunteer ESL teacher for African refugees and asylum seekers. She began writing fiction at age 40.
Book Groups
If your book group is reading DISPLACED PERSONS, Joan may be able to join you via Zoom.
Download Readers Guide for Displaced Persons (pdf) here.
Appearances
Literary Modi’in (virtual) Click here for link.
Sunday, June 9, 2024, 1 PM EDT
Boston Hadassah Tikvah Chapter
Monday, June 17, 2024, 1:30 PM
Westbury Memorial Library, Westbury, NY
Thursday, June 20, 2024, 7 PM. VIRTUAL
Temple Ahavat Achim, Gloucester, MA
Wednesday, July 17, 2024, 7 PM
One Book/One Hadassah
Thursday, August 22, 2024, 7 PM on Zoom.
Jewish Federation of Binghamton, NY
Sunday, September 8, 2024, 10:30 AM
Temple Beth-El, Ithaca, NY
Sunday, September 8, 2024, 7 PM
Congregation Agudat Achim, Schenectady, NY
Monday, September 9, 2024, 7:30 PM
Union College, Schenectady, NY
Tuesday, September 10, 2024, lunch
Jewish Federation, Springfield, MA
Wednesday, September 11, 2024, 11 AM
Wellfleet Public Library, Wellfleet, MA
Thursday, September 12, 2024, 7 PM
Temple Israel, Portsmouth, NH
Sunday, September 15, 2024, 10:30 AM
Falmouth Jewish Congregation, Falmouth, MA
Monday, September 16, 2024, 1 PM
Congregation Beth Israel, Worcester, MA
Co-sponsored with the Worcester JCC
Tuesday, September 17, 2024, 7:30 PM
Temple Emanuel, Newton, MA
Thursday, September 19, 2024, 8 PM
Hadassah, Connecticut Region, W. Hartford, CT
Sunday, September 22, 2024, noon
Or Shalom, Orange, CT
Monday, September 23, 2024, 6 PM
Temple Sinai, Newington, CT
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 6 PM
Temple Beth Avodah, Newton, MA
Friday, October 25, 2024, evening
Temple Beth Abraham, Nashua, NH
Saturday, October 26, 2024, noon
Congregation B’nai Israel, Northampton, MA
Sunday, November 3, 2024, 10:30 AM
Or Hadash, Fairfield, CT
Sunday, November 3, 2024, 3 PM
Congregation Emanu-El, Rye, NY
Monday, November 4, 2024, lunch talk
Jewish Community Center of Harrison, NY
Monday, November 4, 2024, 7:30 PM
Beth El, New Rochelle, NY
Tuesday, November 5, 2024, 11:30 AM
JCC Mid-Westchester, Scarsdale, NY
Wednesday, November 6, 2024, lunch talk
Temple Israel Center, White Plains, NY
Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 7 PM
Community Synagogue, Rye, NY
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 11 AM
Greenburgh Hebrew Center, Dobbs Ferry, NY
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 7:30 PM
Israel American Council, Newton, MA
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 7:30 PM
Temple Emanu-El, Haverhill, MA
Sunday, November 17, 2024, 10 AM
Temple Beth Elohim, Acton, MA
Sunday, November 17, 2024, 7 PM
Temple Israel, Boston, MA
Thursday, November 21, 2024, 7 PM
Temple Israel, Natick, MA
Saturday, November 23, 2024, morning
The Emanuel Synagogue, West Hartford, CT
Sunday, November 24, 2024, 11 AM
Hebrew College, Newton, MA
Tuesday, December 3, 2024, 7:30 PM
Temple Beth Zion (TBZ), Brookline, MA
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 7:30 PM
Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek, Chester, CT
Sunday, December 8, 2024, 12:30 PM
Shaarei Tikvah, Scarsdale, NY
Sunday, December 8, 2024, 6:30 PM
Morristown Jewish Center, Morristown, NJ
Monday, December 9, 2024, 7 PM
East Brunswick Jewish Center, E. Brunswick, NJ
Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 7 PM
Temple Emanuel, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
Wednesday, December 11, 2024, 1:00 PM
Congregation Agudath Israel, Caldwell, NJ
Thursday, December 12, 2024, 8 PM
Westchester Reform Synagogue, Scarsdale, NY
Friday, December 13, 2024, noon
Temple Aliyah, Needham, MA
Sunday, December 15, 2024, 10 AM
Hillel B'nai Torah, W. Roxbury, MA
Sunday, December 15, 2024, 4 PM
Jewish Arts at Temple Isaiah with Temple Emunah, Lexington, MA
Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 7:45 PM
Arlington Authors Salon, Kickstand Cafe, Arlington Center, MA
Thursday, January 9, 2025, 7:30 PM
Hummingbird Books, Chestnut Hill, MA
Monday, January 13, 2025, 7 PM
Newton Free Library, Newton, MA. In conversation with Bill Novak.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 7 PM
