Alan Lelchuk is an American novelist, professor, and editor from Brooklyn, New York.

He received his B.A. in World Literature from Brooklyn College in 1960 and received his M.A. in 1962 and Ph.D. in 1965, both in English and from Stanford University. He completed a Stanford dissertation fellowship at University College London in 1962–63.

His short fiction has appeared in such publications as Transatlantic Review, The Atlantic, Modern Occasions, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Partisan Review. Significant critical studies on Lelchuk have been Philip Roth in Esquire, Wilfrid Sheed in Book-of-the-Month Club News, Benjamin DeMott in The Atlantic, Mordechai Richler in the Chicago Tribune, and Steven Birkets in The New Republic.

He began teaching at Brandeis University in 1966, was Visiting Writer for two years at Amherst College, from 1982 to 1984, and has been a member of the Dartmouth College faculty since 1985.

Some awards, honors, and citations include:

  • Yaddo Foundation Grant in 1968, 1969, 1971, and 1973

  • MacDowell Colony Fellowship in 1969 and 1974,

  • Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction in 1976–1977

  • Fulbright Writer-in-Residence at the University of Haifa, Israel in 1986–1987

  • In 1999-2000 he was the recipient of the Otto Salgo Chair in American Literature and Writing at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, Hungary

In 2003-2004 he received a Fulbright Award and taught at the International University of Moscow. In 2005 he was a Fulbright Senior Specialist Professor, giving seminars in fiction writing and American Literature at Moscow State University, Universita di Napoli (Naples, Italy), and Die Freie Universität, Berlin.

He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Rome, visiting writer at City College of New York, and has been in residence at Mishkenot Sha'ananim in Jerusalem. He has given readings and lectures at numerous institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Brandeis University, the Boston Public Library, Boston University, Amherst College, University of Southern California, University of South Florida and the American Cultural Center (Jerusalem, Israel).

His manuscripts are housed as "The Alan Lelchuk Manuscript Collection" in the Howard Gotlieb Research Center in the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University.

In 1994 he co-founded Steerforth Press with Thomas Powers, Chip Fleischer and Michael Moore, and is a member of the independent publisher's editorial board.

Curriculum Vitae

 

  • Brooklyn College, B.A. 1960, World Literature.

    Stanford University, M.A. 1962; Ph.D. 1965, English "The Life and Novels of George Gissing." (University College, University of London, 1963-64, Stanford Dissertation Fellowship.)

  • Dartmouth College, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, 1985-Present

    Dartmouth College, Jewish Studies Program, Comparative Literature, 1990-Present

    The Free University, Berlin, Spring 2009

    University of Naples, 2006 (Fulbright seminar) Moscow State University, 2005

    International University of Moscow, 2003-2004 (Fulbright Prof.) Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary, 1999-2000. C.C.N.Y., Visiting Writer, Fall, 1991.

    Haifa University, 1986-87, Fulbright Writer-in-Residence. Amherst College, 1982-84, Visiting Writer, Full Professor. Brandeis University, 1966-81, Writer-in-Residence.

  • Creative Writing Workshops (Short Story, Novella)

    Contemporary Fiction, Twentieth Century Jewish Fiction

    Great Short Novels

    Modern American Literature

    “Writing at the Extreme: Jewish and Japanese Literary Responses to Crisis and Catastrophe” (co-taught)

  • Harvard University, South House, Spring, 1973.

    Yale Drama School, Spring, 1973.

    MLA, Writers and Poets Section, Spring, 1973, "Three Contemporary Novels." (Mr. Sammler's Planet, Rabbit Redux, American Mischief).

    University of Wyoming, "A Novelist's Notes," April, 1974.

    Brandeis University, "On Writing for Cinema," with Jiri Weiss, Czech director, April, 1975.

    Boston Public Library, "Why I Write," September, 1976.

    National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, New York, "The Novel of the Self," November, 1978.

    Dartmouth College, "T. Borowski and Literature of the Holocaust," November, 1979; January, 1986.

    Amherst College, (Readings) November, 1981; May, 1984.

    University of Massachusetts Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities, "The End of the Jewish Writer?" March, 1984, reprinted N.Y. Times Book Review (front page), 1985.

    University of New Hampshire, February, 1985.

    Haifa University, January, 1987; "Recent Adventures of Saul Bellow," May, 1987; Lectures by Martin Amis and Alan Lelchuk delivered on honoring Bellow, (in Saul Bellow, BYU Press,1991)

    American Cultural Center, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, 1986,1987.

    University of New Hampshire, March, 1990.

    University of Oklahoma, March, 1991.

    City College of New York, March, 1991.

    University of Erlangen, Institute for American Studies, and Nuremberg, Germany, June, 1992 (Readings and panel participant on "Multiculturalism in Literature" with Grace Paley, John Williams, Gerald Vizenor, Ed Vega, Raymondo Hernandez, Andrew Halloran).

    University of Rome (Italy), Spring, 1996. (On Contemporary American Literature and the Creative Process).

    University of Ragusa (Italy), winter, 2006 (readings and lecture on S. Bellow)

    Sanford University, May 2015, reading from Searching for Wallenberg and talk.

    University Southern California, spring 2011 (from Searching for Wallenberg: A Novel) and from Breaking Ground, How Jackie Robinson Changed Brooklyn.” May 2015

    University of Adelaide, Spring 2017, “Why we read great literature” and Master Class on Saul Bellow.

  • Project Evaluator, Literature, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1977-82.

    Acting Chair, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, Dartmouth College, 1988-89. Judge, Moment Magazine, Jewish Cultural Awards (Literature Category), Spring,1991.

    Judge, Russia Essays for Fulbright Award, Moscow State University. 2006

    Judge, Bellagio/Rockefeller Foundation Italy Awards for Creative Writing, 2008

  • Associate Editor, Modern Occasions, 1970-72, a literary quatterly(ed. Philip Rahv).

    Co-Editor, 8 Great Hebrew Short Novels with Gershon Shaked, (Introduction by Alan Lelchuk) Meridian Books, 1983.

    Co-founder (Senior Editor), Steerforth Press, 1993 - present

  • Yaddo Foundation Fellow, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973

    MacDowell Colony Fellow, 1969, 1974

    Contemporary Authors, Contemporary Novelists

    Contemporary Literary Criticism

    Dictionary of American Scholars

    International Authors and Writers Who's Who

    Norton Anthology of American Literature, Second Edition, p. 1714 American Prose since 1945-

    Who's Who in America

    World Authors

    Guggenheim Fellowship for Fiction, 1976-77.

    Mishkenot Sha'Ananim Resident Fellow, Jerusalem, 1976-77.

    "Alan Lelchuk Manuscript Collection," in Twentieth Century Archives, Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University.

    Fulbright Award, Writer-in-Residence, Haifa University, Israel, 1986-7 Visiting Artist in Residence, University of Rome, Spring, 1996.

    Salgo Professorship in American Creative Writing and Literature, ELTE University, Budapest,1999- 00.

    Fulbright Award, Writer-in-Residence, International University of Moscow, Russia, 2003-04.

    Fulbright Senior Specialist, Creative Writing, American Short Story 2005-2009 (2005, Moscow State University, University of Naples, Winter 2006, The Free University, Berlin, Spring 2009)