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Joshua Henkin Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Joshua Henkin
Photo: Matthew Polis

Joshua Henkin

Joshua Henkin Biography

Joshua Henkin is the author of the novels Matrimony, a New York Times Notable Book, and Swimming Across the Hudson, a Los Angeles Times Notable Book and The World Without You, winner of the 2012 Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish American Fiction and a Finalist for the 2012 National Jewish Book Award. His short stories have been published widely, cited for distinction in Best American Short Stories, and broadcast on NPR's "Selected Shorts." His fourth novel is Morningside Heights (June 2021). He lives in Brooklyn, NY, and directs the MFA program in Fiction Writing at Brooklyn College.

Joshua Henkin's website

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Interview

Joshua Henkin talks about his third and fourth novels, The World Without You and Morningside Heights The first set against the backdrop of Independence Day and the Iraq War and the second which explores the relationship between a wife and her husband diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.

Morningside Heights


Joshua Henkin is the author of four novels, including Matrimony and The World Without You. His fourth novel, Morningside Heights, explores the relationship between Pru and her husband, Spence, as he is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.

There are multiple story threads in this novel--was there one that started as the seed?

I wrote over 3,000 pages for Morningside Heights. That's how I always work: write thousands of pages, throw most of them out and, eventually, I find the heart of the novel. Morningside Heights started as a very long short story that took place at a class for caregivers at a Jewish community center on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The seed for the book was my mother's experience in a similar class when she was caring for my father. My mother is not the kind of person who gravitates toward such classes--toward adult education in general--and I was interested in what it would be like for someone like her to be thrust into contact with strangers in this way. The first draft of the book began at the JCC. By the 20th draft, the JCC was in the garbage pail, though one character from the class remains.


That's a lot of drafting! Is it safe to assume, then, that you don...

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Books by this Author

Books by Joshua Henkin at BookBrowse
Morningside Heights jacket The World Without You jacket Matrimony jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Joshua Henkin but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Amy Bloom

    Amy Bloom

    Author of three New York Times best-sellers and three collections of short stories, a children's book (another coming in 2022) and a ground-breaking collection of essays. Bloom has been a nominee for both the National Book ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The World Without You

    Try:
    Away
    by Amy Bloom

  • Joan Dempsey

    Joan Dempsey

    Winner of the 2017 Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, New England native Joan Dempsey received an MFA and teaching certificate in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Dempsey was ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The World Without You

    Try:
    This Is How It Begins
    by Joan Dempsey

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