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Melvin Jules Bukiet

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Melvin Jules Bukiet
Occupation
  • Author
  • literary critic
NationalityAmerican
Notable awardsEdward Lewis Wallant Award (1992)
Signature

Melvin Jules Bukiet is an American author[1] and literary critic. He has written a number of novels, including Sandman's Dust, After, While the Messiah Tarries, Signs and Wonders, Strange Fire, and A Faker's Dozen. He edited the collections Neurotica: Jewish Writers on Sex, Nothing Makes You Free, and Scribblers on the Roof. His short stories and non-fiction writing have appeared in The American Scholar, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and The LA Times. He appeared in The BBC's documentary on Auschwitz. He won the 1992 Edward Lewis Wallant Award.[2][3]

In 1994, Bukiet became the co-owner of the KBG Bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, initiating a series of readings that turned the bar into a "literary hotspot" in the 1990s and 2000s.[4][5]

In 2007, Bukiet was arrested for intervening in the arrest of one of his tenants for drinking from an open container on a city street. He was released with a misdemeanor charge after spending the night in the Tombs, Manhattan's notorious central prison.[6]

Bukiet based his play "Runts" on the Sarah Lawrence 'sex cult' scandal. He told the New York Times that he was confident tenure would protect his job, but "[He was] not going to stand under any windows outside the administration building. That’s for sure."[7]

The son of Holocaust survivors,[8] Bukiet argued in a 2001 book that Holocaust writing should be the domain of survivors and their descendants.[9] He later recanted that notion, saying "I think everybody should write about it".[9] In 2024 Bukiet noted that the term 'genocide' was coined by Raphael Lemkin to describe the Holocaust. Bukiet described the popularization of the word 'genocide' to describe Israel's response to the October 7 Hamas-led attacks as "remarkable and repulsive".[9]

Bibliography

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Fiction

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  • After (1996)
  • Signs and Wonders (1999)
  • Strange Fire (2001)
  • Sandman’s Dust
  • Undertown (2013)

Anthologies

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  • Neurotica: Jewish Writers on Sex
  • Nothing Makes You Free: Writings by Descendants of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
  • Scribblers on the Roof: Contemporary Jewish Fiction[10]

References

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  1. ^ Furman, Andrew (2003). "Melvin Jules Bukiet". In S. Lillian Kremer (ed.). Holocaust Literature: Agosín to Lentin. Taylor & Francis. pp. 194–198. ISBN 978-0-415-92983-7.
  2. ^ "The Edward Lewis Wallant Award". University of Hartford. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  3. ^ "Episode Guide: Surprising Beginnings". PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  4. ^ "Ready to Wear". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 7 April 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  5. ^ Collins, Glenn (25 September 1998). "A Cold War Relic Is a Literary Hot Spot; New Authors Hope Someone Important Is Listening". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  6. ^ Bukiet, Melvin Jules (1 March 2007). "One Day in the Life of Melvin Jules Bukiet". The American Scholar. Phi Beta Kappa. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  7. ^ Kilgannon, Corey (2023-05-13). "'Runts' Looks for Dark Humor Beneath the Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult Ordeal". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  8. ^ "Melvin Jules Bukiet, Author and Professor, Sarah Lawrence College". Yad Vashem. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. 2025-02-14. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  9. ^ a b c Tracy, Marc (2024-10-20). "The Holocaust's Grandchildren Are Speaking Now". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  10. ^ "Melvin Jules Bukiet". Sarah Lawrence College. Sarah Lawrence College. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
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