"Breathtaking." NY Journal of Books
FINALIST, 2025 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION.
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FINALIST, 2025 ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LIBRARIES AWARD FOR FICTION. "A veritable tour de force, a compulsive read."
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FINALIST, 2024 FOREWARD INDIES AWARD, SHORT STORIES. "Funny, harrowing, excellent."
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NOTABLE BOOK, 2025 SOPHIE BRODY MEDAL, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.
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ONE BOOK, ONE HADASSAH SELECTION FOR SUMMER 2024. "Deeply affecting."
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WOMEN'S LEAGUE READS, WINTER 2025.
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"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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"A veritable tour de force...a compulsive read." Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Award
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"It is a true gift when an author’s own empathy expands the reader’s, as Leegant’s did mine." Colorado Review
“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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My op-ed in The Boston Globe on the current disturbing literary climate for Jewish writers.
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One Book, One Hadassah choice for August 2024. Watch my interview with editor Lisa Hostein.
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On Writing Jewish Stories Now: Read an Interview with JewishBoston.
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Writing without a map. Listen 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. Listen 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, was a finalist for the 2025 National Jewish Book Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Prize, and the Foreward Indies Award for Short Stories. Her first collection, An Hour in Paradise, won the PEN/New England Book Award, the Wallant Award for Jewish Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2003 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
Temple Beth Torah, Holliston, MA
Sunday, April 27 2025, 11 AM
Knesset Israel, Pittsfield, MA
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 7 PM
Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY
Monday, May 12, 2025, noon
Temple Sinai, Roslyn, NY
Monday, May 12, 2025, 7:30 PM
Hadassah, Nassau Region
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 10:30 AM
Old Westbury Hebrew Congregation, Westbury, NY
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 7 PM
Congregation Tifereth Israel, Glen Cove, NY
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 7 PM
Westchester Jewish Center, Mamaroneck, NY
Thursday, May 14, 2025, 12:30 PM
Hadassah, Lower NY, New City, NY
Thursday, May 14, 2025, 7 PM
Marblehead JCC, Marblehead, MA
Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 7 PM
Marblehead Arts Festival, Marblehead, MA
Saturday, July 5, 2025, Time TBD
