Hester Kaplan

Hester Margaret Kaplan Stein is an American short story writer, and novelist.

Early life and education Kaplan was born to a Jewish family, the daughter of novelist Anne (née Bernays) and author Justin Kaplan. Her maternal grandparents were Doris Fleischman and Edward Bernays, "the father of public relations" and nephew of Sigmund Freud. She grew up in Cambridge and graduated from Barnard College.

Writing and teaching career Her work appeared in Ploughshares, Story, Glimmer Train, and Agni, "The Private Life of Skin", appeared in Southwest Review.

She has taught writing at Rhode Island School of Design, the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, the Newport MFA Program, and currently teaches at Lesley University.

Her book Twice Born: Finding My Father In the Margins of Biography was longlisted for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.

Personal life In 1987, she married Dr. Michael Stein. 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

Works

Anthologies

Work appearing in Ploughshares "Goodwell", Ploughshares, Spring 1989 "Companion Animal", Ploughshares, Spring 2003