289 ratings | 1 review | avg rating:4.02

more photos (1)

Jan’s Year In Books

Jan’s 2019 Year in Books

Take a look at Jan’s Year in Books. The long, the short—it’s all here.

See Jan’s 2019 Year in Books

Jan Eliasberg’s Followers (80)

More followers…

Jan’s Bookshelves

read (294)
currently-reading (3)
to-read (6)

Jan’s Friends (138)

Paul Vidich

30 books | 162 friends

Elora

249 books | 7 friends

Robin

812 books | 240 friends

Deb Spera

72 books | 144 friends

Gabriella

358 books | 61 friends

Virginia Campbell

4,621 books | 2,677 friends

Marilyn

1,710 books | 33 friends

Karen Essex

21 books | 2,138 friends

More friends…

Jan Eliasberg

Goodreads Author

Born

New York City, The United States

Website

https://www.janeliasberg.com/

Twitter

janeliasberg

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics

Influences

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Member Since

June 2009

edit data

Jan Eliasberg is an award-winning writer/director with an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama and an MFA in Fiction from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson, where she was mentored by Charles Baxter, Joan Silber and Antonya Nelson. HANNAH'S WAR is her debut novel -- HANNAH'S WAR will be published by Little, Brown on March 3, 2020.
Eliasberg has a notable career as a screenwriter, writing films and television series driven by strong female leads. She wrote W.A.S.P. about the Women Air Service Pilots in WWII for Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz at FOX. Mi Corazon was written for Universal, with Jennifer Lopez attached to star. She wrote Heart ‘N Soul, a “hip hop Pygmalion” for Warner Brothers, and The Gemcutter, a YA Jan Eliasberg is an award-winning writer/director with an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama and an MFA in Fiction from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson, where she was mentored by Charles Baxter, Joan Silber and Antonya Nelson. HANNAH'S WAR is her debut novel -- HANNAH'S WAR will be published by Little, Brown on March 3, 2020.
Eliasberg has a notable career as a screenwriter, writing films and television series driven by strong female leads. She wrote W.A.S.P. about the Women Air Service Pilots in WWII for Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz at FOX. Mi Corazon was written for Universal, with Jennifer Lopez attached to star. She wrote Heart ‘N Soul, a “hip hop Pygmalion” for Warner Brothers, and The Gemcutter, a YA historical fantasy, for Sony. She is attached to direct all of her original screenplays.
Her screenplay, Heart of the Atom, has been honored by the Black List; the BBC Short List; Film Independent’s prestigious Producers Lab, and the Athena Film Festival’s Best Screenplays about female leaders.
She adapted the screenplay of Heart of the Atom into a novel – now known as Hannah’s War – which was pre-emptively bought by Judy Clain at Little Brown as their lead title for Spring 2020.
Heart of the Atom is the story of a female Austrian physicist working on the critical assemblies team of the Manhattan Project in the alien world of Los Alamos, NM in 1945. She has a hidden past in Germany, one that makes her the prime suspect when an army investigator arrives with a chilling mission: to rout out a spy leaking secrets to the Nazis.
For television, Eliasberg was a writer/producer and director for six seasons of NBC’s Sisters. She wrote Spirit of St. Louis, a pilot for CBS and CBS Studios, and two pilots for Fox and Fox Studios, The Blue Line, with Angela Bassett attached, and Fearless.
Eliasberg is currently in development on her original film, Before I Sleep, with Sophia Lillis (IT, IT 2, NANCY DREW) starring. BEFORE I SLEEP traces the complex and unlikely bonds that develop between two women – an architect, already devastated by the sudden death of her fiancée, whose world implodes when his runaway daughter shows up on her doorstep. Their harrowing journey from Los Angeles to Montana, with a life-threatening detour through Reno, NV, leads them to an unexpected catharsis and liberation. BEFORE I SLEEP is an exploration of loss, grief, love and hope, as seen through a uniquely female point of view.
Eliasberg’s prolific directing career includes the feature film, Past Midnight, starring Paul Giamatti, the late Natasha Richardson, and Rutger Hauer. She is known for nurturing performances in film, television and theatre from some of the finest actors of our generation: among them Michael B. Jordan, Michelle Williams, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, and John Turturro.
Eliasberg was hand picked by Michael Mann to be the first female director of the ground-breaking television series MIAMI VICE, followed by Mann’s critically-acclaimed CRIME STORY. She went on to shatter more glass ceilings as the first female director of the award-winning series WISEGUY, among many others. She has directed dramatic pilots for CBS, NBC, and ABC, as well as countless episodes of television series, including Bull, Nashville, Parenthood, The Magicians, Blue Bloods, NCIS: Los Angeles, Supernatural, and dozens of others. In the course of her career as a director, she has won the EMMY, IMAGEN, and the NAACP IMAGE awards.
Eliasberg received her BA from Wesleyan University, Magna Cum Laude and an MFA in Fiction from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson. She is a graduate of the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for Women, where she made her short film, The Doctor, which won the “Best Fiction Short Film Award” at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
She has directed theatre at the Royal Court Theatre in London; South Coast Rep; The Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Public Theatre in New York C ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Jan Eliasberg questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

What books are on your summer reading list this year?

Jan Eliasberg Since it's now September and summer is officially over, I'll share a couple of the books that I read and loved this summer: THE GIFTED SCHOOL by Bruce…moreSince it's now September and summer is officially over, I'll share a couple of the books that I read and loved this summer: THE GIFTED SCHOOL by Bruce Holsinger; Kate Atkinson's BIG SKY (anything by Kate Atkinson always goes straight to the top of my list); Julie Orringer's THE FLIGHT PORTFOLIO; ASK AGAIN, YES by Mary Beth Keane and Susan Choi's spectacular TRUST EXERCISE.(less)

flag

like
Comment

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Jan Eliasberg One of the very best things about being a writer is being able to work in my pajamas all day. I have a wardrobe of lounging pajamas, like Nora in THE…moreOne of the very best things about being a writer is being able to work in my pajamas all day. I have a wardrobe of lounging pajamas, like Nora in THE THIN MAN, that look elegant, are incredibly comfortable, and don't make me feel like a slug.
But, on a more serious note, I'm entranced by living in the world of another character, being able to see the world through his or her eyes, describing it in minute detail as she sees it -- the extravagant joy of finding the precise word or the pitch-perfect line of dialogue (which is always about what the character wants and they they would go about getting it, never about what they actually say). Being in this state of "flow" as a writer is perfect happiness.
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly describes flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."
I used this idea of flow in HANNAH'S WAR when I described the initial collaboration between Hannah Weiss and Stefan Frei. "She was happy to see him arrive each morning, knowing that the work would ignite an electrical storm in her brain. Once silent, dank, and somber, the room now crackled with ideas, laughter, and moments of genius. They danced in synchrony around the lab with physical ease, almost elation, and a rare collaborative chemistry. But the most intoxicating aspect of Stefan was not the brilliance he brought into the room; it was the brilliance he brought out in her. Hannah had never experienced such exquisite insight. When he spoke of the possibilities of fission, she was aware of every molecule of chalk dust on her fingertips. Since she’d been a child, she’d known there was something inside her—something dormant and unsafe and exhilarating—and now it had a context. When she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of his voice intercut with the frenetic scritch-scratch of chalk on blackboard, she felt herself on the verge of a universe reordered. The theoretical became physical. At last, all the long-imagined possibilities that lay in the harnessing of atomic power, the applications of her wildest dreams, everything her father had groomed her for—it was all within reach. The clarity terrified her so close at hand, but far more powerfully, it thrilled her to the core. "
That captures the ecstatic experience of "flow" for me as a writer.
(less)

flag

like
Comment

See all 5 answers from Jan Eliasberg…

Combine Editions
Jan Eliasberg’s books

Average rating: 4.4 · 30 ratings · 16 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Hannah's War 4.38 avg rating — 29 ratings — expected publication 2020 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hannah's War Lib/E it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

5 posts
Jan Eliasberg's Blog

"Triumphant Tale!" -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW

Hannah’s War
Jan Eliasberg. Back Bay, $16.99 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-53744-5
cid/A8573E93-0B5C-4DBB-8381-4EF218AE4EC6.gif

Eliasberg’s fast-paced, insightful debut explores one woman’s anxiety about helping to create the world’s first nuclear weapon. Dr. Hannah Weiss, a Jew who escaped Nazi Germany, works with the Americans on the atom bomb in 1945 Los Alamos, N.Mex., where, thanks to her... Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 14, 2020 22:17

View all 5 posts »

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Jan is Currently Reading

Jan Eliasberg is currently reading

The Second Curve: Thoughts on Reinventing Society

by Charles B. Handy

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

5 hours, 6 min ago

Jan Eliasberg is currently reading

The Family Upstairs

by Lisa Jewell (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 07, 2019 12:07AM

Jan Eliasberg is currently reading

Whose Story Is This?: Old Conflicts, New Chapters

by Rebecca Solnit

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Nov 03, 2019 12:50AM

rss
Jan’s Recent Updates

Jan Eliasberg is currently reading The Second Curve: Thoughts on Reinventing Society by Charles B. Handy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5 hours, 6 min ago · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Second Curve by Charles B. Handy. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Second Curve by Charles B. Handy <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jan Eliasberg rated a book it was amazing Hannah's War by Jan Eliasberg (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 13, 2020 10:28AM · 3 likes · like
Jan Eliasberg made a comment on Tonstant Weader’s review of Hannah's War " Thank you so much for your insightful review of "Hannah's War." I'm particularly pleased that you shone a spotlight on a part of the book that's ...more "
Jan 12, 2020 08:46PM · see review
Jan Eliasberg finished reading Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 07, 2020 07:44PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jan Eliasberg finished reading How Could She: A Novel by Lauren Mechling (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 07, 2020 07:44PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of How Could She by Lauren Mechling. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — How Could She by Lauren Mechling <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jan Eliasberg rated a book liked it The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 07, 2020 07:43PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jan Eliasberg rated a book it was ok Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 07, 2020 07:43PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Right After the Weather by Carol Anshaw <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jan Eliasberg added a status update: Follow @HannahsWarNovel on Instagram and Twitter for exclusive content and news about Hannah’s War.
Jan 07, 2020 07:02PM · like · see status
Jan Eliasberg is now following Hallie Friedman's reviews
Dec 31, 2019 10:06PM · like
Jan Eliasberg rated a book it was ok The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 31, 2019 09:59PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">