Welcome to JaneLeder.com

Jane Mersky Leder’s curiosity about how ordinary people react to extraordinary times and situations has driven her writing from the start. Whether it is her sensitive exploration of teenage suicide, her investigation of brothers and sisters from childhood to old age, or her most recent investigation of young men and women during World War II, Leder finds the unique yet universal story. Had she not gone into teaching and eventually become a writer, she would no doubt have been a therapist or a documentary filmmaker.

Leder is the author of three nonfiction books for young adults and adults: Dead Serious (Atheneum/Avon), Brothers & Sisters (St. Martin’s/Ballantine), and Thanks For The Memories: Love, Sex, and World War II. She is an award-winning author who has appeared on local and national television, led workshops on teen suicide and sibling relationships, and been interviewed by journalists for a host of publications, including the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, and the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Leder has also written Grace & Glory: A History of Women in the Olympics (Triumph Books) and dozens of books for young readers. Her feature articles have appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, Psychology Today, American Heritage, Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Woman’s Day, and Vegetarian Times, and other magazines.

Leder studied at the University of Michigan (B.A.) and Chicago’s Roosevelt University (M.A.). She taught English in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Illinois. She was a newspaper reporter, writer/producer of educational materials, and a researcher and field producer at WLS-TV in Chicago. She currently lives in Evanston, Illinois, with her husband, Alan, and their two cats, Zuni and Chloe.