Lethem, Jonathan

The extremely prolific American author Jonathan Allen Lethem is best known for his crime novels, many of them with science fiction elements, and for his essays on American culture. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to an artistic family. His father is the avant-garde artist Richard Brown Lethem of English-Scottish origin, his mother was Judith Frank Lethem who had a Polish, German and Russian Jewish background. His younger brother, Blake, is an artist and his sister Mara Faye Lethem is a photographer, author and translator.