Compiled by the Center for Israel Education – June 2023
Tens of thousands of Hebrew literary works have been published since the late 18th century. This list of Hebrew literature in English is suggestive and limited. For example, it does not have enough poetry. Great writers omitted include Asher Barash, Yosef Haim Brenner, M.Z. Feierberg, Yitzhak Leib Peretz, Saul Tchernichovsky, and the major and minor writers who focused exclusively on Zionism. The best introductory anthology of Hebrew literature is Robert Alter’s Modern Hebrew Literature, Behrman House, 1972. He includes authors not on this list, and his introduction is as good as one can find on the topic.
Ken Stein, Michael Jacobs, Tal Grinfas-David, December 2014/June 2023
Note that blue links go to pages on the CIE website. Green links connect to outside sites, where any errors are the responsibility of those sites’ operators, not CIE.
Shimon Adaf (1972-): Born in Sderot, Adaf is a poet, novelist and journalist. His awards include the 2010 Yehuda Amichai Award and, for Mox Nox, the 2012 Sapir Prize. He teaches Hebrew literature and writing at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Suggested works:
Icarus’ Monologue
Mox Nox
Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970): Agnon, known as Shai, immigrated in 1907. A prolific writer who depicted Galician Jewry’s decline and Israel’s pioneers, he became Israel’s first Nobel laureate when he received the 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Suggested works:
A Book That Was Lost and Other Stories
A Guest for the Night
Natan Alterman (1910-1970): Alterman was a playwright, poet and journalist whose influence on Labor Zionism and socialist Jewish policies left him remembered for contributions to politics despite never holding office. After the Six-Day War, he was one of the founders of the Movement for Greater Israel, which advocated keeping the newly conquered territories and settling them with Jews. His best-known poem, “The Silver Platter,” is read in memorial ceremonies on Yom HaZikaron.
Suggested works:
Little Tel Aviv
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000): Amichai was one of Israel’s best-known poets and the poet laureate of Jerusalem. His work was translated into over 40 languages. He won numerous prizes in Israel and internationally and was one of the first Israeli poets to write in colloquial Hebrew.
Suggested works:
Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems
The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai
Aharon Amir (1923-2008): A prolific, prize-winning author, Amir was a founder of the Canaanite Movement, which sought to make Israel a cultural empire in the Middle East. He founded the literary quarterly Keshet (Rainbow), which published works by many Israeli authors. He was also a poet and translated many important authors into Hebrew, including Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville.
Suggested works:
Kadim (available only in Hebrew)
A Separate Peace (available only in Hebrew)
Aharon Appelfeld (1932-2018): An Israeli author, professor and Holocaust survivor, Appelfeld was born near Czernowitz, then part of Bukovina, Romania, today in Ukraine, and moved to Palestine in 1946 from a displaced persons camp. His works mainly draw on his childhood experiences. Most are set in Europe during World War II.
Suggested works:
Badenheim 1939
Until the Dawn’s Light: A Novel
David Avidan (1934-1995): One of Israel’s leading new generation of poets, Avidan introduced modern and innovative Hebrew conjugations into his writings in prose and in poetry. He also explored the use of computers and artificial intelligence in the use of verbalization. He was a recipient of many literary awards.
Suggested works:
Lipless Faucets (available only in Hebrew)
Pressure Poems (available only in Hebrew)
Hanoch Bartov (1926-2016): A distinguished member of the “1948 Generation” of authors, Bartov fought in the Jewish Brigade and the Haganah. He was a journalist, pundit and prolific writer. His recognitions included the Israel and Bialik prizes.
Suggested works:
Everyone Had Six Wings
The Heart of the Wise (available only in Hebrew)
Yehoshua Bar-Yosef (1912-1992): Bar-Yosef was born in Tzfat and moved to Jerusalem. He worked as a journalist and wrote and published books that reflected both the Old Yishuv and the New Yishuv. His books explore old religious customs and their impact on marriage and family. His style is descriptive with sensual undertones.
Suggested works:
Hissda Goes Up the Mountain
Magic City (available only in Hebrew)
Michal Ben-Naftali (1963-): A Tel Aviv native, Ben-Naftali is a novelist, essayist and editor. She won the 2016 Sapir Prize for The Teacher. She teaches creative writing and French literature at Tel Aviv University, and she translates French writers such as Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blanchot and Esther Omer into Hebrew.
Suggested works:
The Teacher
A Dress of Fire
Sami Berdugo (1970-): Born in Mazkeret Batya to parents from Morocco, Berdugo writes novels and short stories. He has taught creative writing at Tel Aviv University and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, as well as in workshops. After publishing award-winning books for more than two decades, he won the Sapir Prize in 2020.
Suggested works:
And Say It to the Wind
Donkey
Ilana Bernstein (1957-): Bernstein was born in Rishon LeZion into a family that includes Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Orly Azoulay and Brown University literature professor Ariella Azoulay. She is a novelist, playwright and editor and has taught at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art. She won the 2019 Sapir Prize.
Suggested work:
Tomorrow We’ll Go to the Amusement Park
Chaim Nahman Bialik (1873-1934): Israel’s national poet, Bialik was born in Ukraine and moved to the Land of Israel in 1924. After interviewing survivors of the 1903 Kishinev pogrom, he wrote “Be-Ir ha-Haregah” (“In the City of Slaughter”), in which he condemned Jewish passivity against threats and violence. The poem was a rallying call to young Jews across Eastern Europe to create Zionist youth organizations.
Suggested works:
Songs From Bialik: Selected Poems of Hayim Nahman Bialik
Random Harvest: The Novellas of C.N. Bialik
Erez Biton (1942-): Biton, whose parents were Moroccan, was born in Algeria and came to Israel as a child after several months in a French transit camp. The explosion of a grenade he found near his home blinded him when he was 11. He began writing poetry while working as a social worker and psychologist. Many of his poems depict the struggles of the Mizrahi. He won the Israel Prize in 2015.
Suggested works:
A Moroccan Gift (available only in Hebrew)
Book of Mint (available only in Hebrew)
Hila Blum (1969-): Jerusalem native Blum worked as a journalist before publishing her debut novel, The Visit, in 2012. She won the Sapir Prize for her 2021 novel, How to Love Your Daughter. She also is a book editor for Kinneret Zmora-Bitan.
Suggested work:
How to Love Your Daughter (English version available in July 2023)
Rachel Bluwstein (1890-1931): A native of Russia who immigrated to Ottoman Palestine in 1909, Bluwstein is considered a “founding mother” of modern Hebrew poetry. She helped define the culture of the Yishuv and the State of Israel. More than 20 editions of her poetry and other writings have been published since her death.
Suggested work:
Flowers of Perhaps: Selected Poems of Ra’hel
Orly Castel-Bloom (1960-): One of Israel’s most original authors, Castel-Bloom was born in Tel Aviv. She punctuates her novels and short stories with postmodern motifs. Her numerous literary prizes include the Prime Minister’s Prize three times. Her 1992 novel, Dolly City, was named in 2007 as one of the 10 most important books since the birth of the State of Israel and in 2013 as one of Tablet Magazine’s 101 greatest Jewish books in English translation. She won the Sapir Prize in 2015 for An Egyptian Novel.
Suggested works:
Dolly City
Human Parts
An Egyptian Novel
Alona Frankel (1937-): A native of Krakow, Poland, Frankel survived the Holocaust, first in the ghetto in what is now Lviv, Ukraine, then in hiding. She and her parents immigrated to Israel in 1949. She wrote and illustrated more than 40 children’s books and illustrated others’ books. Her first book for adults, Girl, won the Sapir Prize in 2005. Suggested work:
Girl
Amir Gilboa (1917-1984): Known for drawing upon military experiences and biblical issues of morality in his poems, Gilboa moved to the Land of Israel from Ukraine in 1937. His influential poetry collections, including Seven Dominions, Isaac and To Write the Lips of Those Asleep, earned him the Bialik Prize in 1971 and the Israel Prize in 1982.
Suggested work:
The Light of Lost Suns
Leah Goldberg (1911-1970): Born in Prussia and raised in Lithuania, Goldberg settled in Tel Aviv in 1935. Dedicating her life to the literary movement in the Yishuv, she produced numerous works in children’s literature, drama and poetry. In 2011, Israel decided to put Goldberg’s image on the 100-shekel banknote.
Suggested works:
And This Is the Light
Selected Poetry and Drama
Uri Zvi Greenberg (1896-1981): His first works were published in Hebrew and Yiddish when he was fighting in the Austrian army on the Serbian front during World War I. After he made aliyah in 1923, he distinguished himself as a poet and one of the major proponents of Revisionist Zionism. His poems depict the landscape of Israel, reflecting themes from the Bible, compassion and a prophecy of destruction.
Suggested works:
Selected Poems
A Great Fear and the Moon (available only in Hebrew)
The Book of Indictment and Faith (available only in Hebrew)
David Grossman (1954-): Born in Jerusalem, Grossman began working as a youth correspondent for the Israel Broadcasting Authority when he was 10. He embarked on a literary career in 1983. Grossman’s works, which have been translated into 30 languages, focus on political and social issues. He is often critical of Israel’s handling of the Palestinian conflict.
Suggested works:
Someone to Run With
The Yellow Wind
To the End of the Land
A Horse Walks Into a Bar
Haim Gouri (1923-2018): A poet, author and filmmaker from the “1948 Generation,” Gouri served in the Palmach and fought for the liberation of the Negev in the War of Independence. He has influenced generations with his patriotic poems about the 1948 war and the Holocaust. His “Song of the Camaraderie” is one of the iconic poems of Israel.
Suggested works:
The Chocolate Deal
Words in My Love-Sick Blood
Flowers of Fire (available only in Hebrew)
Amir Gutfreund (1963-2015): A native of Haifa, Gutfreund was the child of Holocaust survivors and spent 20 years in the Israeli Air Force after studying math at the Technion. He began publishing novels in 2000 and won numerous awards, including the 2003 Sapir Price for The Beach Estates. He also was a Maariv columnist.
Suggested works:
Our Holocaust
Ahuzot HaHof (The Beach Estates)
Avigdor Hameiri (1890-1970): Hameiri was born in Hungary and served as a military officer during World War I. After he made aliyah, he published the first satirical newspaper in the Yishuv and established the country’s first satirical theater, Hakumkum (The Kettle), in 1927. A poet, novelist, nonfiction author and playwright, he depicts his love for the country and his experiences in war. One of his most famous poems is “From the Top of Mount Scopus (Peace Upon You, Jerusalem).” He is the recipient of many literary prizes, including the Israel Prize in 1968.
Suggested works:
The Great Madness
Hell on Earth (available only in Hebrew)
Gail Hareven (1959-): Jerusalem native Hareven, the daughter of writer Shulamit Hareven, is an award-winning novelist, columnist and book critic. She won the 2002 Sapir Prize for The Confessions of Noa Weber, which became her first book translated into English. She also has been a visiting professor and written for The New Yorker.
Suggested works:
Haim Hazaz (1898-1973): Born near Kiev, Hazaz moved to the Land of Israel in 1931 and settled in Jerusalem. For his novels and short stories, he won the first Israel Prize for Literature in 1953 and the Bialik Prize twice, in 1942 and 1970. His works are characterized by the tension between the old and new Jewish worlds.
Suggested works:
Gates of Bronze
The Sermon & Other Stories
Yehudit Hendel (1921-2014): Born in Warsaw and arriving in the Land of Israel as a child, Hendel was one of the first female writers to come to prominence after the establishment of the State of Israel. She worked as a journalist and wrote novels and short stories. Many of her works were adapted to stage and screen. She had two distinct literary periods, before and after her husband fell ill in 1970.
Suggested works:
Street of Steps
Small Change
Alon Hilu (1972-): Born in Jaffa, Hilu writes novels, plays and short stories and is a practicing intellectual property lawyer. He often writes historical fiction, dealing with such matters as a blood libel against Jews in Syria, early modern Zionism and the murder of writer Yosef Haim Brenner. He won the 2009 Sapir Prize for House of Rajani, but the prize was annulled over a possible conflict of interest among the judges.
Suggested works:
Death of a Monk
House of Rajani
Orit Ilan (1960-): Ilan won the 2022 Sapir Prize for her third novel, Sister to the Pleiades, which the judges said achieved poetic wonders in the Hebrew language.
Suggested work:
Sister to the Pleiades (available only in Hebrew)
Yoram Kaniuk (1930-2013): A participant in the battle for Jerusalem in 1948, Kaniuk emerged as one of Israel’s most distinguished authors. His numerous literary awards include the Sapir Prize for 1948 in 2010, an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University in 2011 and the French decoration Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012.
Suggested works:
Himmo, King of Jerusalem
The Last Jew
1948
Sayed Kashua (1975-): An Israeli-Arab author born in Tira in the “Triangle” region of Arab towns in central Israel, Kashua spent most of his life in Jerusalem. A journalist and author of Hebrew novels, he is also the creator of Arab Labor, a popular Israeli sitcom that provides a satirical look at life for Israel’s Arab citizens. Kashua has won several Israeli Television Academy Awards for the show’s writing, in addition to the Prime Minister’s Prize for Literature in 2005.
Suggested works:
Dancing Arabs
Second Person Singular
Yehoshua Kenaz (1937-2020): Kenaz was born in Petah Tikvah. In addition to his acclaimed novels, he has worked as an editor for the Haaretz newspaper and as a translator of French literature into Hebrew. A recipient of numerous prizes, Kenaz was awarded the Agnon Prize in 1993 and the Bialik Prize in 1997. Several of his works have been adapted into films.
Suggested works:
After the Holidays
Infiltration
Etgar Keret (1967-): Called a genius by The New York Times, Keret is one of the leading literary voices for Israel’s younger generation. His novels and short stories have been translated into over 30 languages, and many have been adapted into films. Also an accomplished screenwriter and director, Keret and his wife, Shira Geffen, won the Cannes Film Festival’s Camera d’Or award in 2007 for the film Jellyfish. Keret won the 2018 Sapir Prize for his novel Fly Already.
Suggested works:
Suddenly, a Knock on the Door
The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories
Fly Already
Ephraim Kishon (1924-2005): In his native Hungary, Kishon’s only reminder of his religion was “Judaism” on his ID card. In Israel, he embraced being Jewish, and his satirical writing captured all the weaknesses and ills of Israel’s emerging bureaucracy while articulating the mood and the spirit of Israeli society. He is best known as a filmmaker, including 1964’s Sallah Shabbati, Israel’s first Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner.
Suggested works:
Immigrant Upon Us (available only in Hebrew)
The Funniest Man in the World: The Wild and Crazy Humor of Ephraim Kishon
Shulamit Lapid (1934-): An award-winning, prolific author and poet, Lapid was born in Tel Aviv. Her writing explores feminist themes, including her series of detective novels featuring journalist Lizzie Badihi. Her father, David Giladi, was one of the founders of the Maariv newspaper. Her son is journalist-turned-politician Yair Lapid.
Suggested work:
Gai Oni (Valley of Strength)
Ron Leshem (1976-): Born in Tel Aviv, Leshem is best known for writing and producing for television, for such shows as HBO’s Euphoria and Showtime’s Homeland, and for film, including the Oscar-nominated Beaufort. A former newspaper reporter and editor, he won the Sapir Prize in 2006 for his debut novel, Beaufort, which he adapted into the acclaimed movie about Israel’s First Lebanon War.
Suggested work:
Beaufort
Hanoch Levin (1943-1999): Levin was an author, playwright, director, poet and dramatist known to have created some of Israel’s best plays since the late 1960s. His satirical style infused with sharp commentaries on Israeli society enabled him to rise to the top of Israel’s theatrical world. He wrote more than 50 plays, as well as numerous poems, screenplays and essays.
Suggested works:
The Labor of Life: Selected Plays
Yaakobi & Leidental: A Play With Songs
Savyon Liebrecht (1948-): Born in Munich, Germany, to parents who survived the Holocaust, Liebrecht moved with her family to Israel in 1950. She has published collections of short stories, novels, plays, and film and TV scripts. She twice has been named Israel’s Playwright of the Year, in 2004 and 2006.
Suggested works:
A Man and a Woman and a Man: A Novel
Apples From the Desert: Selected Stories
Haggai Linik (1960-): Linik, a jazz musician and former professional soccer player, won the 2011 Sapir Prize with his third novel, Prompter Needed, inspired by the story of his Holocaust survivor parents and their grief after one of Linik’s older brothers was killed in a military training accident in 1968.
Suggested work:
Prompter Needed
Aharon Megged (1920-2016): An immigrant to the Land of Israel from Poland in the 1920s, Megged published over 40 books during his illustrious career. Many contain autobiographical elements, including his experience on a kibbutz as a young adult. Megged won numerous awards, including the Israel Prize for Literature in 2003.
Suggested works:
The Living on the Dead
The Flying Camel and the Golden Hump
Igal Mossinsohn (1917-1994): Mossinsohn was a prolific writer who addressed ethnic tensions between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews. He wrote more than 20 plays and many books, but he gained fame for Hasambah (the Hebrew acronym for “A Band of Absolute Secrecy”), a series of 21 books for children and young adults in which he depicted youngsters being deployed in the service of national causes.
Suggested works:
Judas
In the Negev Plains
Reuven “Ruby” Namdar (1964-): Born and raised in Jerusalem in an Iranian-Israeli Jewish family, Namdar won the 2014 Sapir Prize with his second novel, The Ruined House. He teaches Jewish literature in New York.
Suggested work:
The Ruined House
Amos Oz (1939-2018): Oz is a decorated Israeli writer, novelist and journalist. He has publicly endorsed a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was one of the first Israeli intellectuals to do so, in his 1967 article “Land of Our Forefathers.”
Suggested works:
My Michael
A Tale of Love and Darkness
Esther Peled: A psychologist and writer, Peled won the 2017 Sapir Prize for her fourth work of fiction, Widely Open Underneath, a collection of 34 stories about a middle-aged woman’s life. It was the first self-published book to win Israel’s biggest literary prize. She also has written nonfiction books about Buddhism and therapy.
Suggested work:
Widely Open Underneath
Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936-2005): Known for her lyrical, intensely personal and highly emotional poems, Ravikovitch wrote more than 20 volumes of poetry, as well as short stories and children’s books, and earned many awards, including the prestigious Israel and Bialik prizes. Her poetry has been canonized in Israel, and her collected works were translated into English in 2009.
Suggested works:
Hovering at a Low Altitude: The Collected Poetry of Dahlia Ravikovitch
A Dress of Fire
Haim Sabato (1952-): Born into a Syrian Jewish family in Cairo, Sabato moved to Israel with his family in 1957 and lived in a ma’abarah (immigrant transit camp). He fought in the Yom Kippur War, became a rabbi and founded a yeshiva in Ma’ale Adumim. He won the inaugural Sapir Prize for his 2000 novel about his experiences in the October 1973 war, Adjusting Sights.
Suggested works:
Aleppo Tales
Adjusting Sights
Pinhas Sadeh (1929-1994): Sadeh participated in the battle for Jerusalem in 1948 and in the 1950s began writing stories and poems for children. He published his first novel to critical acclaim in 1958. Both loved and rejected by many, Sadeh was also a prolific translator. His work is known for theological and mystical elements.
Suggested works:
Life Is Parable
One Man’s Condition (available only in Hebrew)
Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky (1916-1984): One of the most widely acclaimed and beloved Israeli poets, Mishkovsky, known simply as Zelda, began writing poetry while attending a religious teachers college in 1950. Her poetry is popular with readers of all backgrounds, in Israel and abroad. Zelda’s poem “For Every Person There Is a Name” is recited each year on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).
Suggested work:
The Spectacular Difference: Selected Poems of Zelda
Yaakov Shabtai (1934-1981): Born in Tel Aviv, Shabtai was a novelist, playwright, poet and children’s author. In 1982 he was posthumously awarded the Agnon Literary Prize. His best-known novel, Zichron Devarim (Past Continuous), is considered a masterpiece of Hebrew literature. A 2007 survey of leading publishers, editors and critics named it as the best Hebrew book written since the creation of the state.
Suggested works:
Past Continuous
Uncle Peretz Takes Off
Nathan Shaham (1925-2018): Regarded as one of the prominent writers of the Palmach Generation, Shaham participated in the 1948 War of Independence. He is the author of more than 40 books whose subjects are derived from Israel’s wars, kibbutz life and the emerging Israeli society.
Suggested works:
Rosendorf Quartet
Grain and Lead (available only in Hebrew)
Meir Shalev (1948-2023): Born in Nahalal, Shalev wrote children’s books, novels and collections of short stories. He was a veteran of the Six-Day War and the War of Attrition, and he worked as a broadcast journalist. In 2006 he was awarded the Brenner Prize and a National Jewish Book Award for A Pigeon and a Boy.
Suggested works:
A Pigeon and a Boy
The Blue Mountain
Moshe Shamir (1921-2004): Shamir fought in the 1948 war, during which he lost his brother Elik, about whom he wrote a moving novel. After the June 1967 war, he adopted hawkish political views and became active in the Greater Israel Movement. He wrote historical novels depicting heroic figures carrying out Israel’s destiny.
Suggested works:
With His Own Hands
He Walked Through the Fields (available only in Hebrew)
Anton Shammas (1950-): Born in Fassuta, Shammas is an Israeli Arab novelist, poet, playwright and translator. He was the first Israeli Arab to write a novel in Hebrew, Arabesques. The 1986 novel provides a riveting look at Palestinian Christians and was chosen as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review.
Suggested work:
Arabesques
Sara Shilo (1958-): A Jerusalem native, Shilo started writing her first book at age 40, also the time when she first was able to overcome ADHD to read a complete novel. That debut novel, known in English as The Falafel King Is Dead, was published in 2005 and won the 2007 Sapir Prize. Her experiences in northern Israel during the First Lebanon War in 1982 inspired the story.
Suggested work:
The Falafel King Is Dead
Avraham Shlonsky (1900-1973): Born in Ukraine, Shlonsky moved to Ottoman Palestine at age 13. He is considered one of the most prominent poets in Israel’s history. He was the first representative of what was considered modern Hebrew poetry. He introduced elements of symbolism to Hebrew poetry, and his immense influence in style and rhythm was considered revolutionary. He was a linguistic innovator and coined words in his poetry and in his publishing and editing positions.
Suggested works:
Thunder (available only in Hebrew)
Vow (available only in Hebrew)
Dan Tsalka (1936-2005): Born in Warsaw, Tsalka took refuge with his family in the Soviet Union during World War II. He immigrated to Israel from Poland in 1957. He published his first novel, Dr. Barkel, in 1967, and he edited a literary supplement for a newspaper. His awards included the Brenner Prize in 1976 and the Sapir Prize in 2004 for his final book, Tsalka’s ABC.
Suggested work:
Tsalka’s ABC
Miriam Yalan-Stekelis (1900-1984): Yalan-Stekelis was born in Ukraine. Her father, Dr. Yehudah Leib Wilensky, was a delegate to the First Zionist Congress. She made aliyah at age 20 and settled in Jerusalem, where she started to write poetry while she worked in the National University Library. While her initial works were aimed at adults, she became best known for writing children’s poetry and stories.
Suggested works:
The Journey to Island Maybe (available only in Hebrew)
The Flower I Gave Ruti (available only in Hebrew)
Zvi Yanai (1935-2013): Born in Italy to a Christian opera singer from Hungary and a Jewish ballerina from Austria, Yanai converted to Catholicism during World War II and studied for the priesthood, then moved to the Land of Israel in 1945. He became an atheist but embraced Jewish history and thought. He was a philosopher who worked for IBM and led the Israeli Ministry of Science. He won the 2008 Sapir Prize for his autobiographical novel, Yours, Sandro.
Suggested work:
Yours, Sandro (available in Hebrew, German and French)
Noa Yedlin (1975-): A Tel Aviv native, Yedlin is a novelist and screenwriter who won the 2013 Sapir Prize for House Arrest and was a finalist four years later for Stockholm. She developed Stockholm into an Israeli TV series, then created versions in Germany and Sweden. Her works are known for a dark sense of humor.
Suggested works:
House Arrest
Stockholm
A.B. Yehoshua (1936-2022): Described by The New York Times as an “Israeli Faulkner,” Yehoshua is one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers of fiction. Best known as a novelist and playwright, he won numerous international and Israeli literary awards. His books have been translated into 30 languages and adapted for television, theater and film.
Suggested works:
The Lover
Five Seasons
Mr. Mani
S. Yizhar (1916-2006): Born Yizhar Smilansky, he was the son of Ze’ev Smilansky, one of the leaders of the Second Aliyah. A politician and academic as well as an influential author, Yizhar won numerous literary prizes, including the Israel Prize for Literature in 1959. He served as a member of the first through sixth Knessets.
Suggested works:
Khirbet Khizeh: A Novel (Five Seasons)
Days of Ziklag (available only in Hebrew)