Jean Ende is a native NYer who is trying to exorcise her background by writing fiction largely based on her immigrant Jewish family. 

Her work resonates with all immigrant groups and people from insular societies who have had to adapt to a wider world.

About two dozen of Jean’s short stories have been published in print and online magazines and anthologies and recognized by major literary competitions in the US and England.   Although the shadow of the Holocaust is present in many of these pieces, they’re frequently humorous— dancing Cossacks entertain at bar mitzvahs, the heresy of chocolate chip bagels is condemned, daughters are warned of the dire consequences of sex with uncircumcised men, a mother protects her son-the-doctor from unscrupulous shiksas and an elderly aunt wearing a gown from La Traviata outwits a girdle thief.

In the past year, Jean has started writing speculative/fantasy fiction. Not sure why.

Formerly a newspaper reporter in Westchester, NY and Jersey City, NJ, Jean was also a press secretary for the City of New York and various political candidates. After years of doing communications for non-profit organizations, she decided to go over to the dark side and got an MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Jean became a VP at Citibank, NA and then a management professor at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY.

She has attended the Bread Loaf and Tin House Writers Conferences, Women Reading Aloud, taken MFA classes at Stonybrook College and is part of author Kaylie Jones’ master class.

Jean recently completed her first novel, Houses of Detention, which will be published in 2025 by Apprentice House Press, Loyola University. The story of three generations of a family that fled the Nazis and settled in NY, the book focuses on the American-born teenager who pushes boundaries too far . She winds up in reform school where everyone learns a new definition of the American experience. The book also examines conflicts within immigrant groups. When a woman from a more orthodox group marries into the family, the religious schism almost tears them apart.

Jean and her dog currently live in Brooklyn which is a foreign country to anyone born in the Bronx.

Email me with suggestions or comments

PUBLISHED WORK

A Doctor in the House  Finalist, 2019 Tennessee Williams Fiction Contest;  published, The WriteLaunch, 3/21,

Cat’s Cradle  Driftwood Press Short Story Contest, published 4/20; Bloom Magazine, published 9/21,

Facts of Life Funny Pearls, 12/2/21

Foodies Gastronomica, Journal of Food and Culture,  Univ. of California Press, 8/13

Hail To The Chief,  The Mocking Owl Roost, 5/23

Hocus Pocus, Stories Through The Ages, Baby Boomers Plus, Spring, 2018

In The Swim, Movement: Our Bodies In Motion, Jewels in the Queen’s Crown, Sweetycat Publishing, 6/22,

My Father Wants I Should Know , Glimmer Train Magazine, 1/14; Finalist, Tom Howard/John Reid Fiction Contest, 10/15; included in, “Stories that Need To Be Told” Tulip Tree Publishing anthology, 12/16, finalist, Colorado State Book Award;

Poof!, The Rumen, 9/23

Sex for Seniors  Semi-finalist, Mark Twain House & Museum humor contest, 8/15; American Writers Review 8/18; published as, “Dim The Lights” FunnyPearls.com, 2/22

The Best Egg Cream in the Bronx Jewish Literary Journal originally published as “The Skinny Man in the Candy Store” 9/15

The Best Is Yet To Be American Literary Review, 8/22

The Force Anti-Heroin Chic, 11/19; Bloom Magazine, Red Penguin Press, 3/21

The Great Pizza War  Jewish Fiction.net, 4/15,

The Kosher Butcher’s Tale Short Story Competition, Third Wednesday, 12/17

The Little Ones, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Lessons Learned from my Dog, 1/23

The Old Ladies Bench  Winner, Short Fiction Competition, Bosque Magazine, 11/16; Special Immigrants Edition, River Poets Journal, 2018

Treasure Island, The Bronx Poets and Dreamers, 9/16

Unbound Fig Tree Press Newsletter, 7/22. The Book of Witty Women, Comedy Women in Print, Duckworth Books, Ltd., 2024. Previously titled, "Who Stole Aunt Rachel’s Girdle,”   Short listed, Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction, LitMag, 3/18; Honorable mention, best character, Craft Magazine, 2019.

You Can’t Get There From Here, The MockingOwl Roost, 1/22