Leo Calvin Rosten was born April 11, 1908 in Łódź, Poland into a Yiddish‐speaking family who emigrated to the United States in 1911. Showing an early interest in books and language, he began writing stories at nine. During the Depression, he taught English to recent immigrants, using this source to write his most popular novels, The Education of Hyman Kaplan and The Return of Hyman Kaplan. Rosten obtained a doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago, then went on to write stories and film screenplays as Leonard Q. Ross, including All Through the Night, The Dark Corner and Sleep, My Love. He is most noted, however, as an American humorist. Rosten died February 19, 1997, in New York City.