Jeff Gottesfeld

Howard Jeffrey Gottesfeld (born 1956) is an American novelist, playwright, and screen and television writer. In recent years he has focused on writing texts for picture books for children, grades two and up. Gottesfeld grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, attended Teaneck High School, Colby College, and then the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Gottesfeld has written freelance for numerous magazines and newspapers, and continues to publish essays on such subjects as the ongoing controversy over the Confederate flag, immigration policy, and trends in young adult fiction.

His fiction ranges from elementary age children to adult. For television, he has written for such shows as Smallville and The Young and the Restless. Together with Cherie Bennett, he has written under the pen name Zoey Dean. His first picture book was The Tree in the Courtyard, published by Random House/Knopf in March, 2016. It received starred reviews in Booklist and School Library Journal. His 2020 children's book, No Steps Behind, documents the life and activism of Beate Sirota Gordon. It is the winner of the 2020 NCTA Freeman Award, for the best children's book about Asia. It was also a runner-up finalist for the 2020 National Jewish Book Award. His March, 2021 picture book, with illustrations by Matt Tavares, is Twenty-One Steps, published by Candlewick Press. It received a number of starred reviews, as well as praise from the Wall Street Journal. It is about the origins of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its Tomb Guards.