Leonard Michaels (New York, 1933 - Berkeley, 2003). American writer of stories, novels and essays. Was born in New York. Son of Jewish parents, until he was six years old he only spoke Yiddish. Already from his first book of stories, Going Places, he was considered one of the most brilliant fiction writers of his time. Their stories were urban and fun. Six years later he wrote I Would Have Saved Them If I Could, a collection of stories as powerful as the previous one. His first novel, The Men's Club, was taken to the cinema in 1986 by Peter Medak, with a script by Michaels himself and starring Roy Scheider, Harvey Keitel and Frank Langella. Michael was a professor at Berkeley until his death in 2003.