Joseph Leftwich

Who was Joseph Leftwich?

Joseph Leftwich, born Joseph Lefkowitz, was a British-Jewish critic and translator into English of Yiddish literature. He is known particularly for his 1939 anthology The Golden Peacock of Yiddish poetry, and his 1957 biography of Israel Zangwill.

He was one of the 'Whitechapel Boys' group of aspiring young Jewish writers in London's East End, in the period roughly 1910–1914. He himself retrospectively coined the name, to include also the artists David Bomberg and Mark Gertler.

His daughter Joan married the American writer Joseph McElroy.