Brian Schaefer is a New York-based novelist and journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York, Haaretz, Bloomberg/Businessweek, Out Magazine, Dance Magazine and more. 

Brian co-wrote the weekly Dance Listings for the New York Times from 2013-2025 and was a scholar-in-residence at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival from 2015-2024. He was a Finalist for the 2012 Livingston Award in International Reporting for his exploration of the history and politics of Israel's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Brian was a 2010-2011 Dorot Fellow in Tel Aviv, where he later worked as a reporter, columnist and editor for the English edition of Haaretz newspaper. 

In 2007, Brian received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Arts Journalism for Dance Criticism. He was a Board Member of the Dance Critics Association from 2011-2014, a U.S. State Department Arts Ambassador in 2020 and a recipient of the Peyton Evans Artist Residency at the Studios of Key West in 2026.

Brian holds Bachelor degrees in Communication and Dance from the University of California, San Diego and a Masters in Literature and Creative Writing from Bar Ilan University.