Leven's first novel,
Creator, was published in 1980 and released as a
film of the same title in 1985. Leven was a practicing neuropsychiatrist, a theme incorporated in his second novel,
Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S., which was published in 1982 and filmed as
Crazy as Hell in 2002. His third and most recent novel,
The Savior and the Singing Machine, was published in January 2019. Leven wrote and directed
Don Juan DeMarco (1994), wrote and produced
Alex & Emma (2003), wrote the screenplays for
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000),
The Notebook (2004), ''
My Sister's Keeper (2009), and Real Steel (2011), and did uncredited writing on The Time Traveler's Wife (2009). Recently, Leven wrote and directed Girl on a Bicycle'' (2013). ==Awards==