Leslie B. Neustadt
Biography
Leslie B. Neustadt is a retired attorney, poet and collage artist. Author of two poetry collections, The Sustenance of Stars (Kelsay Books, 2024) and Bearing Fruit: A Poetic Journey (Spirit Wind Books, 2014), she explores the beauty and power of the natural world, life’s joys and struggles, and a commitment to human and civil rights in her work. Her poems have been published in a variety of literary journals and a number of anthologies, including Veils, Halos & Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women; The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary American Jewish Poetry; 101 Jewish Poems for the Third Millenium; Rumors Secrets & Lies: Stories & Poems About Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice; Musematrix; and Heels into the Soil: Stories & Poems Resisting the Silence. She is a board member of the International Women’s Writing Guild and chairs its program committee, producing a popular workshop series for the Guild which she created during the pandemic. She is also a member of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild and created an award-winning Community of Jewish Writers reading series in the Capital Region. Leslie lives with her husband, Dr. Gary Kronick, in Niskayuna, New York.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
Leslie Neustadt’s poetry and art explores themes related to Jewish faith, cultural traditions, and literary history – often reflecting the interweaving of Jewish sensibilities and universal human experiences.
Published Works
Poetry
The Sustenance of Stars (Kelsay Books, 2024)
Bearing Fruit: A Poetic Journey (Spirit Wind Books, 2014)
Poetry Anthologies in Which My Poems Appear:
Rumors, Secrets & Lies: Poems About Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice (Anhinga Press, 2022)
Heels into the Soil: Stories & Poems Resisting the Silence (International Women’s Writing Guild, 2021)
101 Jewish Poems for the Third Millennium (Ashland Poetry Press, 2021)
Voices Israel 2018 Poetry Anthology (Voices Israel Group of Poets in English, 2018)
Musematrix. (Women Writers and Artists Matrix, 2016)
Veils, Halos and Shackles: International Poetry on the Abuse and Oppression of Women (Israel: Kasva Press, 2016)
Oh Sister, My Sister: An Anthology of Sisterhood (Jyoti Wind, 2015)
Voices Israel 2015 Anthology (Voices Israel Group of Poets in English, 2015)
The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry (2013)
Links to Sample Works
Decolonial Passage, “We Were Always Hungry”
Gallery & Sudio, “Self Portrait Next to Frida Kahlo”
The Jewish Writing, “Kissing in Mamaloshen”
