leonard was co-literary editor of "the nation" with his wife, sue leonard, from 1995 to 1998, and continued as a contributing editor for the magazine. he wrote a monthly column on new books for "harper's" magazine and was a frequent contributor to the "new york times book review" and "the new york review of books". leonard rated highest among literary critics in a 2006 "time out new york" survey of writers and publishers. he received the national book critics circle's ivan sandrof lifetime achievement award in 2006.