Yahdon Israel

Yahdon Israel is a senior editor at Simon & Schuster whose passion is promoting literacy and connecting readers with books. He brings an entrepreneurial spirit to these pursuits as the founder of a popular book club, host of a literary podcast, event producer, magazine editor, and writer, as well as through his work in support of several prestigious literary awards, including the NBCC, Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Young Lions Fiction Award.

Some of the books Israel has acquired and edited at Simon & Schuster include Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy, What Winners Won’t Tell You by two-time NFL Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins, Growing Up Urkel by Jaleel White, and Tenderheaded: A Memoir by Michaela Angela Davis. Israel’s first acquisition, Aaliyah Bilal’s debut short story collection Temple Folk, was a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction and the Aspen Words Literary Prize and won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.