"Breathtaking." NY Journal of Books
News!
DISPLACED PERSONS chosen for Women's League Reads, one of 3 books selected each year by the Women's League of Conservative Judaism. Join me on Zoom Jan. 12, 2025 at 4 PM ET for an eye-opening conversation about what it means to write a book about Israel now. Open to WL members. Info here.
DISPLACED PERSONS is the One Book, One Hadassah selection for August 2024, one of 6 books chosen each year. Watch my interview with Hadassah Editor Lisa Hostein here.
"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
“Deeply affecting... gorgeous tales of wandering Jews.” Hadassah
"Remarkably varied yet stunningly cohesive collection." Lilith
"A page-turning collection with vivid characters whose loves, fears, and experiences will be relatable to readers." Jewish Book Council
"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
"An especially timely glimpse into life both in Israel and the United States." Bookchase
"Deliciously complex stories that explore exile, belonging, parenthood, and marriage with a sharp sense of humor and emotional wallop." Chicago Review of Books
"Displaced Persons lets us think about the lives of others with nuance and compassion. " Tel Aviv Review of Books
"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
"Prophetic...Leegant ponders both the Jewish and Israeli experiences." Times of Israel
"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
"Funny and harrowing...addresses issues of Jewish identity with complexity." Foreward Reviews
PODCASTS
The Book I Want to Write. On writing without a map.
Chatting with the Yiddish Book Center's The Schmooze.
Interview with Writers Forum, WRBH radio New Orleans.
Fiction as a window into how life is really lived on New Books Network.
Cantina Book Club. What's really behind a story.
Commentaries from the Edge. On the urgency to make repair in relationships before it's too late.
What fiction can tell us about life that nonfiction can't on Living the Next Chapter.
New England Review Outloud. "Let the sentences guide you. Just trust the page." Listen here.
ESSAYS
"Why I Marched on Washington for the First Time in 50 Years." The Forward
"But How Are You Managing?" Paper Brigade Daily, Jewish Book Council
Joan Leegant's story collection, Displaced Persons, won the New American Fiction Prize. The judge was Weike Wang. Joan's 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, named a "Significant Jewish Book" by the Union of Reform Judaism.
Formerly a lawyer, from 2007 to 2013 Joan was the visiting writer at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv where she also gave talks 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 has taught at Harvard, Oklahoma State, and Cornish College in Seattle where she was the writer-in-residence at Hugo House. She is a graduate of Harvard and Boston University Law School and for many years played keyboard in a klezmer band. She lives outside Boston.
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
