author
Bruno Lessing
1870–1940
A lively New York journalist writing as Bruno Lessing turned everyday Jewish immigrant life into sharp, funny, deeply human stories. His work brought newspaper energy to fiction and helped capture the voices of the early 20th-century city.
1 Audiobook
Children of Men
by Bruno Lessing
About the author
Born Rudolph Edgar Block in New York City on December 6, 1870, he became widely known by his pen name, Bruno Lessing. He worked as a journalist, columnist, and author, and much of his writing drew on the world of Jewish New York, especially the neighborhoods, humor, and pressures of immigrant life.
Block began in newspaper work in the late 19th century and later edited comic supplements for Hearst papers, a notable role in the early newspaper comics era. As Bruno Lessing, he published stories and books including Children of Men and With the Best Intention, building a reputation for fiction that mixed satire, sympathy, and close observation.
He died in Tucson, Arizona, on April 29, 1940. Though not as widely remembered as some of his contemporaries, Bruno Lessing remains an interesting figure for listeners curious about American Jewish writing, early popular journalism, and the literary life of old New York.