Fiction
The Disappearance (2006)
The One-Handed Pianist and Other Stories (1998; enlarged edition 2008)
Nonfiction
I Love My Selfie, with ADAL (2017)
Borges, the Jew (2016)
Once @ 9:53 am, fotonovela with Marcelo Brodsky (2016)
Quixote: The Novel and the World (2015)
Reclaiming Travel, with Joshua Ellison (2014)
The United States of Mestizo (2013)
Singer's Typewriter and Mine: Reflections on Jewish Culture (2012)
José Vasconcelos: The Prophet of Race (2011)
Return to Centro Histórico: A Mexican Jew Looks for His Roots (2012)
Gabriel García Márquez: The Early Years (2009)
A Critic’s Journey (2009)
Resurrecting Hebrew (2008)
Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion (2005)
¡Lotería! (with Teresa Villegas, 2003)
Spanglish: THe Making of a New American Language (2003)
On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language (2001)
The Inveterate Dreamer: Essays and Conversations on Jewish Culture (2001)
Octavio Paz: A Meditation (2001)
Art and Anger: Essays (1998)
The Riddle of Cantinflas: Essays on Hispanic Popular Culture (1998; exp. 2012)
Bandido (1995; exp. 2006)
The Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture and Identity (1995)
Imagining Columbus: An Imaginary Voyage (1992)
Anthologies
Words in Transit: Stories of Immiogrants (2016).
Oy, Caramba!: An Anthology of Stories by Jewish Latin American Writers (2016)
The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2011)
The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Latin American Poetry (2011)
Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing (2009, 2014)
Lengua Fresca: Latino Writers on the Edge, with Harold Augenbraum (2006)
The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature (2005)
The Scroll and the Cross: 1,000 Years of Jewish Hispanic Relations (2003)
Wáchale!: Stories and Poems on Growing Up Latino (2001)
Mutual Impressions: Writers from the Americas Reflect on Each Other (1999)
The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (1998)
The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays (1997)
Growing Up Latino, with Harold Augenbraum (1994; exp. 2006)
Tropical Synagogues: Short Stories by Jewish-Latin American Writers (1994)
Cartoons
Angelitos, with Santiago Cohen (2017)
A Most Imperfect Union: A Contrarian History of the United States, with Lalo Alcaraz (2014)
El Iluminado, with Steve Sheinkin (2012)
Mr. Spic Goes to Washington, with Roberto Weil (2005)
Latino USA: A Cartoon History, with Lalo Alcaraz (2000)
Children
Golemito (2013)
Conversations
Laughing Matters, with Frederick Aldama (2016)
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Latino Art, with Jorge J.E. Gracia (2014)
Muy Pop!, with Frederick Aldama (2013)
What Is La Hispanidad?, with Iván Jaksic (2011)
With All Thine Heart: Love and the Bible, with Mordecai Drache (2008)
Knowledge and Censorship, with Verónica Albin (2008)
Love and Language, with Verónica Albin (2007)
Conversations with Ilan Stavans (2005)
Ilan Stavans: Eight Conversations, with Neal Sokol (2004)
Translations
El Little Pr'incipe, by Antoine de Saint Exupery (2016)
Lazarillo de Tormes (2015)
The Underdogs, by Mariano Azuela, with Anna More (2014)
The Plain in Flames, by Juan Rulfo, with Harold Augenbraum (2012)
Sentimental Songs, by Felipe Alfau (1992)
Editions
The Encyclopedia of Latin Music (2014, 2 volumes)
Pablo Neruda: All the Odes (20013)
Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition (2012)
Cesar Vallejo: Spain, Take This Chalice from Me (2008)
Cesar Chavez: An Organizer's Tale (2008)
Pablo Penruda: I Explain a Few Things (2007)
Rubén Darío: Selected Writings (2005)
Encyclopedia Latina (2005, 4 volumes)
Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories (2004, 3 volumes)
Pablo Neruda: The Poetry of Pablo Neruda (2003)
Calvert Casey: The Collected Stories (1998)
General
The Essential Ilan Stavans (2000)
Translations into Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, Catalan, etc.