I J Singer

Israel Joshua Singer (1893-1944), the brother of Nobel Prize-winner Isaac Bashevis Singer, was born in Bilgoraj, Poland, the son of a rabbi. He contributed to Yiddish newspapers in Warsaw and Kiev, where his shortstory, "Pearls," was published, which brought him immediate recognition. In 1921 he was hired as a correspondent for the Jewish Daily Forward. In 1927 he wrote his first novel, Steel and Iron, which was followed five years later by Yoshe Kalb. He came to the United States in 1934, and within two years The Brothers Ashkenazi was published, a work that was not only an instant success but was also destined to become a classic in its time.