Jacky Klein
Jacky Klein, Executive Editor of Odessa, is a publisher and writer. After working as a curator at the Tate, Courtauld and Hayward galleries in London, in 2008 she moved sideways into art book publishing, working as Commissioning Editor at Thames & Hudson, Executive Editor at Tate Publishing, and Director of HENI Books. She has published world-renowned authors, including Rosalind Krauss, Hal Foster, Robert Storr, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Linda Nochlin, RoseLee Goldberg, and Glenn Adamson; and dozens of leading artists, among them George Condo, Bill Viola, Frank Auerbach, Cornelia Parker, Marc Quinn, and Mary McCartney. Her own writing includes a bestselling book on British Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry (2009/2020); What is Contemporary Art? (2012), a children’s guide to the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and essays in a number of other books including Body of Art (2015), Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe (2020), and Jewish Realities after 7 October (2025).
Three books that have stuck with me:
David Grossman's To The End of the Land, David Baddiel's Jews Don’t Count, and Dara Horn's People Love Dead Jews.
Something people are always surprised to learn about me:
During Covid, I captained the winning team on the BBC's University Challenge Christmas show.
If I could instantly become an expert in one thing, it would be:
Reading, writing and speaking Hebrew. An ancient, mystical, allusive language in which every word contains multiple layers of meaning. Sadly not the way I speak it — yet!