Boris Fishman

Boris Fishman’s new novel, The Unwanted, will be published by HarperCollins in March 2025. He teaches creative writing and literature at The University of Austin

The Art of The Betsy
How a Miami Beach hotel became a cultural mecca
byBoris Fishman
‘There Is Always Room in Life for a Valorous Deed’
As war rages in Ukraine, Boris Zakharov and a network of human-rights activists stretching from Kyiv to Brooklyn are organizing rescue missions
byBoris Fishman
The Disappearing Apartment
A family of Soviet Jews prepares to leave for America in ‘Savage Feast,’ a new memoir with recipes
byBoris Fishman
The Last Thing He Taught Me and the First Thing I Learned
How I stopped worrying and learned to lie to the most important man in my life
byBoris Fishman
King of the Jews, Leslie Epstein (1979)
A portrayal of Holocaust victims as flawed, but real
byBoris Fishman
The Fixer, Bernard Malamud (1966)
Going to the heart of the matter
byBoris Fishman
The Stranger
A 24-year-old Jewish Upper West Sider helps run the most important Arab-American organization in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, home to 35,000 Arabs
byBoris Fishman
Old Ways
Soviet Jews survived by gaming the system, so it’s no surprise some felt entitled to fraudulently claim reparations from Germany
byBoris Fishman
Under the Chuppah
Preparing to officiate at my parents’ wedding-vow renewal, I discovered a connection to Judaism I didn’t know I had
byBoris Fishman
‘Oy! Such a Home’
A New Yorker flees to New Orleans and finds himself surrounded by Jews
byBoris Fishman
The Man Who Would Be King
Thirty years ago, Leslie Epstein raised hackles with his fictional take on the Lodz ghetto
byBoris Fishman
Forged Reunions
A picture of post-Soviet provincial life, both Jewish and gentile
byBoris Fishman
Ghetto Music
When Italians fell for klezmer, Francesco Spagnolo tuned them in to the forgotten sounds of their own people
byBoris Fishman
Spelling Errors
How Bee Season lost its sting on the screen. Plus: An audio interview with author Myla Goldberg.
byBoris Fishman
A Novel Ending
Liev Schreiber pulls a switch on Everything Is Illuminated
byBoris Fishman
Back from the Shadows
Dovid Bergelson’s skepticism served him poorly in life but sublimely in art
byBoris Fishman
Austrophobia
Sam Apple encounters a shepherd who sings in Yiddish—and forces him to question his deepest fear.
byBoris Fishman
Reorientation
Tom Reiss on the mysterious Byronic figure from Baku who posed as a Muslim prince.
byBoris Fishman