Jon Papernick
Assistant Professor, School of Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies
Jonathan Papernick is the author of three novels and three short story collections, including The Ascent of Eli Israel, The Book of Stone, I Am My Beloveds, and the recent story collection Gallery of the Disappeared Men. His work has been translated into Spanish and Italian, and his fiction and essays have appeared in publications including Tablet, The Forward, and Post Road. His short fiction has been widely anthologized, and his work often explores questions of identity, belief, exile, family, and contemporary Jewish life.
In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate fiction workshops, he has taught and lectured internationally, including at Bar-Ilan University and the Technion in Israel. He is the recipient of a 2026 Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship, and was named a 2026 ISGAP Summer Institute Scholar-in-Residence.
In addition to his literary work, Papernick is a mentor, storyteller, and public speaker whose work frequently engages questions of antisemitism, memory, displacement, and contemporary Jewish identity. His recent work has increasingly focused on questions of antisemitism, campus culture, and political extremism in contemporary North America.
He is currently at work on The Oppressor Professor, forthcoming from The Story Plant in 2027.
Courses
- Stork Magazine
- Writing Workshop in Popular Fiction
- Advanced Seminar Workshop in Fiction
- MFA Thesis
- Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction
- Introduction to Creative Writing: Fiction
- Senior Creative Thesis (All Genres)
Creative Work
- 2024, Gallery of the Disappeared Men: Stories, The Story Plant
- 2022, I Am My Beloveds: A Novel, The Story Plant
- 2015, The Book of Stone, Fig Tree Books
- 2010, There Is No Other, Exile Editions
- 2007, Who By Fire, Who By Blood, Exile Editions
- 2002, The Ascent of Eli Israel, Arcade Publishing
- 2025, “Tel Aviv,” in Spring in the City: A Collection of Dark Speculative Fiction, R.B. Wood (Ed.), Ruadan Books, Boston
- 2024, “Jerusalem,” in Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Speculative Fiction, R.B. Wood (Ed.), Ruadan Books, Boston
- 2014, “My Darling Sweetheart Baby,” in Night Train: The First Ten Years, R. Siino & R. Barnes (Eds.), Ed. Boston: Night Train, 171 -181
- 2012, “Bar Mitzvah video used as blackmail,” in Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish Life, L. Smith (Ed.), New York: Smith Magazine and Reboot, 70 -71, backcover
- 2012, “Unexpected Pleasure,” in The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life -Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous & Obscure. L. Smith (Ed.), New York: Harper Perennial 32 -34
- 2011, “The Engines of Sodom,” in Sudden Flash Youth: 65 Short -Short Stories, C. Perkins - Hazuka, T. Hazuka & M. Budman (Eds.), New York: Persea Books, 126-129
