Joan Leegant

In an interview with Salem State English professor emeritus Rod Kessler, multi-award-winning author Joan Leegant will speak about the world of Jewish America and the American experience in Israel, as well as the plight of Jewish writers in the world of publishing in the aftermath of the Gaza war.

Trained as a lawyer, Leegant taught at Harvard, was a visiting writer at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv, and has been a volunteer ESL teacher for African refugees and asylum seekers. 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 National Jewish Book Award. Her latest book, Displaced Persons, was a finalist for the 2025 National Jewish Book Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries Fiction Prize, and the Foreward Indies Award.

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