Isaac Bashevis Singer

Polish-American writer (1904-1991) · United States · Writers · Died at 87 · also Poland · also Russia

Isaac Bashevis Singer is read about 633 times a day, in 91 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?

Compare

He wrote in a language the world was forgetting and won the Nobel Prize anyway. Singer's Yiddish fiction - demons, desire, shtetl life rendered unsentimental and strange - reached readers who couldn't read the original, because he translated himself into English and refused to let the tradition die polite.

Writers Writer / Author Fiction Stand Up Journalism Screenwriting Literature United States

A life in dates

1991Died24 July 19911982Honorary Doctor of the University of MiamiAward1981Buber-Rosenzweig-MedalAward1978“I don't invent characters because the Almightly has already invented millions… Just like experts at fingerprints do not create fingerprints but learn how to read them.”In their words26 November 1978The New York Times (26 November 1978)Read the whole statement

“The analysis of character is the highest human entertainment.”In their words26 November 1978The New York Times (26 November 1978)Read the whole statement

“The Jewish people have been in exile for 2,000 years; they have lived in hundreds of countries, spoken hundreds of languages and still they kept their old language, Hebrew.”In their words26 November 1978The New York Times (26 November 1978)Read the whole statement

“I am thankful, of course, for the prize and thankful to God for each story, each idea, each word, each day.”In their words16 October 1978On winning the Nobel Prize, TIME magazine (16 October 1978)Read the whole statement

Nobel Prize in LiteratureAward1975“Life is God's novel. Let him write it.”In their wordsQuoted in Voices for Life (1975) edited by Dom MoraesRead the whole statement

1974National Book AwardAward1973Itzik Manger PrizeAward1972“As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis.”In their wordsEnemies, A Love Story (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1972), p. 257Read the whole statement

1970National Book AwardAward1968Bancarella Literary PrizeAward1904Born14 July 1904

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Dan Hadani collection (990044399930205171) (cropped)

Dan Hadani collection (990044399890205171)

Dan Hadani collection (990044399900205171)

Dan Hadani collection (990044399910205171) (cropped)

Dan Hadani collection (990044399910205171)

Dan Hadani collection (990044399930205171)

Dan Hadani collection (990044399940205171)

IreneLieblichandIsaacBSinger

In their own words 10

Isaac Bashevis Singer

10 statements, newest first

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.
Dec 3, 1978, The New York Times (3 December 1978), Own words
I don't invent characters because the Almightly has already invented millions… Just like experts at fingerprints do not create fingerprints but learn how to read them.
Nov 26, 1978, The New York Times (26 November 1978), Own words
The analysis of character is the highest human entertainment.
Nov 26, 1978, The New York Times (26 November 1978), Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Honorary Doctor of the University of Miami1982

Buber-Rosenzweig-Medal1981

Nobel Prize in Literature1978

National Book Award1974

Itzik Manger Prize1973

National Book Award1970

Bancarella Literary Prize1968

Honorary Doctor of Ben-Gurion University

Family

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Partners

Spouse Alma Wassermann

Child Israel Zamir

Brothers and sisters

Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

About this person

Born in Poland in 1903, Singer published first in Yiddish, carrying a literary tradition most assumed was fading. He moved to the United States and began translating his own novels and stories into English with collaborators, reaching audiences far beyond Yiddish readership. In 1970 his memoir A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw won a National Book Award in Children's Literature; in 1974 his story collection A Crown of Feathers won in Fiction. The Nobel Prize followed in 1978. Some works made it to the stage. He died in July 1991, having spent decades proving a minority language could command a major literature.

Country

United States

In common with Isaac

Mandy PatinkinAlso in Yentl (1983)

Miriam MargolyesAlso in Yentl (1983)

Elya BaskinAlso in Enemies, a Love Story (1989)

Valerie PerrineAlso in The Magician of Lublin (1979)

Sara KestelmanAlso in The Cafeteria (1974)

Bruce DavidsonAlso in Isaac Singer's Nightmare and Mrs. Pupko's Beard (1973)

Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.