William Novak (born 1948) is a Canadian–American author who has co-written or ghostwritten numerous celebrity memoirs for people including Lee Iacocca, Nancy Reagan, and Magic Johnson. He is also the editor, with Moshe Waldoks, of ''The Big Book of Jewish Humor''. He has also written several "private" books, which he described in a 2015 essay for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. He is the father of actor and writer B. J. Novak and composer

Jesse Novak Jesse Novak is an American composer, best-known for his work scoring television shows, including ''The Mindy Project'', ''BoJack Horseman'', ''Tuca & Bertie'', The Baby-Sitters Club (2020 TV series), ''The Baby-Sitters Club'', and ''Superstore (TV ...

. He is Jewish.

Books

* ''High Culture: Marijuana in the Lives of Americans''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980, * ''The Great American Man Shortage and Other Roadblocks to Romance (and What to Do About It)''. New York: Rawson Associates, 1983, * Lee A. Iacocca with William Novak, '' Iacocca: An Autobiography''. New York: Bantam Books, 1984, * Sydney Biddle Barrows with William Novak, ''Mayflower Madam: The Secret Life of Sydney Biddle Barrows'', New York: Arbor House, 1986, * Herb Schmertz with William Novak. ''Good-Bye to the Low Profile: The Art of Creative Confrontation'', Boston:

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown (publisher), James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Ear ...

, 1986, * Tip O'Neill with William Novak, ''Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill'', New York: Random House, 1987, * Nancy Reagan with William Novak, '' My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan''. New York: Random House, 1989, *

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

with William Novak, ''My Life'', New York: Random House, 1992, * Oliver L. North with William Novak, '' Under Fire: An American Story'', New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

, * Claire Sylvia with William Novak, ''A Change of Heart: A Memoir'', Boston: Little, Brown, 1997, * ''An Incredible Dream: Ralph Roberts and the Story of Comcast''. Philadelphia: Comcast Corporation, 2012, * Max Kargman with William Novak, ''The Education of Max Kargman'', Boston: Foundation Books, 2003. * Susan Whitman Helfgot with William Novak, ''The Match: Complete Strangers, A Miracle Face Transplant, Two Lives Transformed'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010,

As editor

* William Novak and Moshe Waldoks, ''The Big Book of Jewish Humor''. New York:

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, 1981, * William Novak and Moshe Waldoks with Donald Altschiller, ''The Big Book of New American Humor: The Best of the Past 25 Years''. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990, * ''Die Laughing: Killer Jokes for Newly Old Folks'', New York: Touchstone, 2016,

References

1948 births American non-fiction writers Jewish American writers Ghostwriters Living people 21st-century American Jews {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub