  jonathan allen lethem (born february 19, 1964) is an american novelist, essayist and short story writer. his first novel, gun, with occasional music, a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was published in 1994. it was followed by three more science fiction novels. in 1999, lethem published motherless brooklyn, a national book critics circle award-winning novel that achieved mainstream success. in 2003, he published the fortress of solitude, which became a new york times best seller. in 2005, he received a macarthur fellowship. ==early life== lethem was born in brooklyn, new york, to judith frank lethem, a political activist, and richard brown lethem, an avant-garde painter.richard brown lethem website he was the eldest of three children. his father was protestant (with scottish and english ancestry) and his mother was jewish, from a family with roots in germany, poland, and russia.http://www.forward.com/articles/111940/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n24/jonathan-lethem/my-egyptian-cousin hi
1964_births 20th-century_American_novelists 21st-century_American_novelists American_essayists American_science_fiction_writers American_short_story_writers Bennington_College_alumni Fiorello_H._LaGuardia_High_School_alumni Jewish_American_novelists Jewish_American_writers Living_people MacArthur_Fellows People_from_Berwick,_Maine Postmodern_writers World_Fantasy_Award_winning_writers Writers_from_Brooklyn Writers_from_California Writers_from_New_York Writers_from_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area