“A revelatory new book. The Writer’s Brush, the product of Friedman’s lifelong fascination with his subject, offers a lavishly illustrated look at the paintings, drawings and sculptures of some 200 literary figures (several of them among our most recognized names) from the past two centuries – and throws in a series of concise but illuminating (and often delightfully quirky) biographies to boot.”

—Rachel Campbell-Johnston, Times of London

The Writer’s Brush: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture by Writers by Donald Friedman

Derek Walcott discusses his painting and poetry.

Kurt Vonnegut shows and discusses his artwork.

Donald Friedman

About Donald

I’m Donald Friedman, author of novels, short stories, essays, and large and small books of non-fiction. Curious about everything (some might say pathologically so) my books and blogs cover an odd mix of topics—the lives and works of writer-artists, a fascination with language that resulted in a humorous book about dog terms, a blog about words derived from chemistry, and the mind-destroying disease, CJD, that took the life of my sister.

Since there’s only so much one guy can discover on his own, I hope you’ll send me an email with writer-artists or dog terms or chemistry words I’ve overlooked, or your own experience with dementing illness.  Or anything else you care to share.

Praise

The Writer's Brush

“Sparkling audaciously on every page.”

New York Times Book Review

The Writer’s Brush Exhibition Catalogue

“A delicious peek into the artistic pursuits of some eighty authors.”

The New Yorker

Corrupted Humours

“A fever dream...an engaging, serpentine, and multilayered tale of death, passion, and people.”

Kirkus Reviews 

You’re My Dawg, Dog

“As funny and  irresistible as dogs are.”

—John Berendt, bestselling author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The Hand Before the Eye

“You’ll be pleased to compare its farcical humor to Philip Roth.”

The Jerusalem Report

The Writer's Brush

“A grand feat of research and interpretation”

Booklist (American Libraries Assoc.)

Starred Review

The Latest

The Philanthropist
Wealthy fifty-year-old Pritzker, with two failed marriages behind him, decides to try again with a broker of Russian brides, and finds the young and beautiful Ludmilla who is desperate to escape a dreary dead end life in Vladivostok. Pritzker understands that Ludmilla is bartering her youth and good looks for a life of ease in America and is confident that a well-crafted prenuptial agreement would, as it had before, “allow him to suck the juice out of the prenuptial fruit and discard the rind with impunity.”

Spread over twenty years, the story begins in Manhattan in the 1990’s and ends in the mythical town of Apiaka, Florida. We see what Pritzker has failed to appreciate—the native intelligence and inner resources that will enable Ludmilla to outwit her controlling husband and his lawyers, and emerge from the marital crucible as a strong and independent woman.

ThePhilanthropist_cover

Also by Donald Friedman

Latest Blog Post

FREDERIC TUTEN FOUND A NEW JOY

January 25, 2024

“At this time of my life–someone would say, the winter of my life, although I don’t feel cold,” Frederic Tuten, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and art critic, tells of finding a new joy in painting.  “Practically no day passes where I’m not either writing and painting or painting and…

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