Jonathan Goldstein (author)

Born in 1969 in Brooklyn, New York, Jonathan Goldstein is a writer and radio producer who holds both US and Canadian citizenship. After spending his childhood years in various states of the USA and Quebec, Canada, he grew up in the Laval suburb of Montreal. He started his education at McGill University and then completed the creative writing master's program at Concordia University.

Goldstein's work has attracted attention in academic circles with its focus on the intricacies of the Canadian identity as well as the Jewish community, one of the minority groups in the United States in the last century.

Goldstein, who worked in the telemarketing industry for many years before starting his writing career, continued to write and read constantly during this period. His appearance in the "Plan B" episode of the program This American Life, which he participated in while he was in New York in the late 1990s, was one of his first important steps in the media world.

In 2000, he started hosting the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC's radio program Road Dot Trip and soon contributed to other productions such as Dispatches and Outfront.

The real breakthrough in Goldstein's radio career came when he moved to Chicago in 2000 and joined the This American Life team. While he served as a producer on the program, he also contributed to the creation of many episodes as a contributing editor. Goldstein, who worked in one of the leading public radio programs in the USA during this period, returned to Montreal in 2002 and took part in various projects for CBC Radio One.

He served as the presenter of the WireTap program, which started in 2004 and continued until 2015, and included stories told over the phone in the program. At the same time, in 2014, he played the character of "witness" in comedian John Hodgman's Judge John Hodgman podcast.

Embarking on a new adventure in 2016, Goldstein joined the Gimlet Media family by founding the program Heavyweight, which has become one of the new favorites of podcast listeners. Meanwhile, Goldstein's first novel, Lenny Bruce Is Dead, which was active in the field of writing as well as the radio world, was published in 2001, and Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley's Jewish Roots, which he wrote together with Max Wallace, was published in the same period.

Additionally, his essays and articles have appeared in prestigious publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Walrus and National Post.

Goldstein, who lived in different cities such as Montreal, Chicago and New York, also had colorful periods in his private life. After a long-term relationship with writer Heather O'Neill, he married radio producer Emily Condon in 2015. Goldstein's work that builds bridges in the media and literary worlds in both Canada and the USA also stands out with its contributions to cultural diversity.