Born April 1, 1947, in Brooklyn, NY.
Education: Harvard University, M.A., 1969.Career: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, teacher of creative writing, 1971-72; University of Arizona, Tucson, visiting lecturer in fiction, 1982-84; Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC, member of faculty in master of fine arts program, 1984--. Instructor at Breadloaf Writers Conference, summer, 1984.
Writings by the author: Judah the Pious, Atheneum, 1973; The Glorious Ones, Atheneum, 1974; Stories from Our Living Past (Jewish tales), illustrated by Erika Weihs, with teacher's guide, Behrman, 1974; Marie Laveau, Berkley Publishing, 1977; Animal Magnetism, Putnam, 1978; Household Saints, St. Martin's, 1981; Hungry Hearts, Pantheon, 1983; Bigfoot Dreams, Pantheon, 1986; Women and Children First and Other Stories, Pantheon, 1988; Primitive People, Farrar, Straus, 1992; A peaceable Kingdom, Farrar, Straus, 1993; Dybuk: a Story Made in Heaven, Greenwillow, 1996; The Angel's Mistake: Stories of Chelm, Greenwillow, 1997; Guided Tours of Hell: Novellas, Metropolital Books/Henry Holt, 1997; Hunters and Gatherers, H. Holt, 1997. Contributor: Master Breasts: Objectified, Aestheticized, Fantasized, Eroticized, Feminized by Photography's Most Titillating Masters, Aperture, 1998; You Never Know: a Legend of the Lamed-Vavniks, Greenwillow, 1998; Blue Angel: a Novel, HarperCollins, 2000; The Demon's Mistake: a Story from Chelm, Greenwillow, 2000. Coauthor: On Writing Short Stories, Oxford University Press, 2000; The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired, HarperCollins, 2002. She has received several awards for his writings.
Contributor of fiction and articles to periodicals, including Mademoiselle, Redbook, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, New York Times Magazine, Atlantic, Village Voice, and Commentary.
