Late Beauty

One of Israel's most celebrated poets, Tuvia Ruebner has been awarded every major literary prize in Israel, including the Prime Minister's Prize and the prestigious Israel Prize (2008), and numerous awards in Germany, including the Konrad Adenauer Literature Prize (2012). Born in Slovakia, he is a prolific poet who wrote his first works in German, and began writing in Hebrew in 1953. His work is pervaded with a sense of both public and personal loss, including that of his first homeland, culture, and family in the Holocaust, and later on, his first wife and son. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1941, and eventually settled in Kibbutz Merhavia where he lives today.

One of Israel’s most celebrated poets, Tuvia Ruebner has been awarded every major literary prize in Israel, including the Prime Minister’s Prize (twice) and the prestigious Israel Prize (in 2008), and numerous prizes in Germany, including the Konrad Adenauer Literature Prize, awarded in Weimar in 2012. Born in Slovakia, he is a prolific poet who wrote his first works in German, and began writing in Hebrew in 1953. He has published 15 volumes of poetry and several non-fiction books in Israel, and ten books in Germany. His work is pervaded with a sense of both public and personal loss, including that of his first homeland, culture and family in the Holocaust, and later on, his first wife and son. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1941, and eventually settled in Kibbutz Merhavia where he continues to live today. His poems have been translated into many languages, and he has also translated the works of S. Y. Agnon into German, and Goethe into Hebrew. Ruebner is a photographer as well, and published a book of photographs of Israel, Europe and Nepal. He is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Haifa University.


Lisa Katz is the translator of Israeli poets Admiel Kosman ("Approaching You in English," Zephyr) and Agi Mishol ("Look There," Graywolf), and the author of "Reconstruction," a book of poetry translated into Hebrew (Am Oved). She edits the Israeli pages of the Poetry International Rotterdam web site and writes a blog, WomanWithoutBorders, on writing and culture. Born in New York and living in Jerusalem since 1983, she has taught translation at Hebrew University and Ben Gurion University of the Negev.


Shahar Bram is a Senior Lecturer in Hebrew and Comparative Literature at Haifa University. In addition to three scholarly -- "A Backward Look: The Long Poem: Israel Pincas, Harold Schimmel and Aharon Shabtay" (in Hebrew) and in English, "Charles Olson and Alfred North Whitehead: An Essay on Poetry" (Bucknell), and "The Ambassadors of Death" (Sussex), on the poetry of Tuvia Ruebner -- he is the author of three books of poetry and a science fiction novel in Hebrew, and in English an illustrated poetry chapbook, "Colorful Was Their Voice," and a novella, "Stones." http://www.shaharbram.com/