Ehud Ben-Ezer

Ehud Ben-Ezer was born in 1936 in Petah Tikva, where his family has been rooted since 1878. A member of kibbutz Ein-Geddi for several years, he later studied Philosophy and Kabbala (from Gershom Scholem) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Ben-Ezer worked as a teacher in new settlements in the Negev and near Jerusalem, and described these experiences in his first novel, The Quarry (which was adapted to a film version in 1990).

Ben-Ezer writes prose for children as well as fiction and nonfiction for adults, and is also a literary critic in the Hebrew press. A collection of his interviews with prominent Israeli writers, politicians and intellectuals, “Unease in Zion”, was published by Quadrangle, New York. “Hosni the Dreamer”, a picture book based upon an old Arab tale, published by Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, New York, has been chosen to be one of the ten best illustrated books for 1997 by The New York Times Book Review, has several printings and has appeared in translation in Korea (2001). His anthology “Sleepwalkers and Other Stories, The Arab in Hebrew Literature”, was published by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Colorado.

Often praised for his courageous writing, Ehud Ben-Ezer frequently broaches controversial social and erotic issues. His prose style is naturalistic and strongly atmospheric, plunging the reader into the scents and sounds of the individual worlds Ben-Ezer creates. Whether cynical, optimistic or using parody, writing fiction or nonfiction for children or for adults, Ben-Ezer’s work presents a credible and authentic portrait of the Israeli experience.

Living in Tel Aviv since 1966, Ben-Ezer is a three times winner Israel’s Prime Minister Prize for Hebrew Literature. He wrote his novel “My Village” and has completed the anthology “Sleepwalkers and Other Stories, The Arab in Hebrew Fiction” while staying on Hebrew Writer’s Fellowship in Yarnton, Oxford, during five months at the beginning of the year 1998; He spent there four more months at the beginning of the year 2003, working on an historical novel which is not completed yet.