Batya Gur ( he, בתיה גור; 1 September 1947 – 19 May 2005) was an Israeli writer. Her specialty was detective fiction. She was a 1994 recipient of the

Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works The Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works, also known as the Levi Eshkol Literary Award, named after Israel's third Prime Minister, is an annual award granted to writers in the Hebrew language. The prize was established in 1969. Abou ...

Biography

Batya Gur was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

in 1947 to parents who survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. She earned a master's degree in Hebrew literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between 1971 and 1975 Batya lived in

Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

, NC, where she taught Hebrew and Jewish studies to elementary students at the North Carolina Hebrew Academy at Greensboro (now called B'nai Shalom Day School). Before writing her first detective novel at the age of 39, she taught literature at the

Hebrew University Secondary School Hebrew University High School ( he, התיכון ליד האוניברסיטה), commonly known as ''Leyada'' (literally "next to"), is a semi-private high school in West Jerusalem, established in 1935 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The ...

. Gur was also a literary critic for '' Haaretz'' newspaper.

Literary career

In 1988 she began writing a series starring the character of police detective Michael Ohayon: an educated, pensive, and intellectual detective. Five sequels ensued. The first book was adapted as a film for Israeli television. In every book in the series Michael Ohayon enters a closed world, an isolated society, with rules of its own (for example

psychoanalysts PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...

, literary scholars in academia, or members of a kibbutz). By his fundamental approach and his inner understanding of human nature, Ohayon succeeds in breaking the ring of silence and solving the murder mystery on his way to the next book.

Critical acclaim

Gur's crime novels were described as "less about the death of the body than...sustained, thoughtful explorations of the life of the mind."

Death

On 19 May 2005, Gur died of lung cancer in Jerusalem at the age of 57. She was buried at

Har HaMenuchot Har HaMenuchot ( he, הר המנוחות, Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi pronunciation, Har HaMenuchos, lit. "Mount of Those who are Resting", also known as Givat Shaul Cemetery) is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem. The hilltop burial ground lies at ...

Published works

In English translation

*1992 ''The Saturday morning murder: a psychoanalytic case'' () *1993 ''Literary murder: a critical case'' () *1994 ''Murder on a kibbutz: a communal case'' () *2000 ''Murder duet: a musical case'' () *2004 ''Bethlehem Road murder: A Michael Ohayon mystery'' () *2006 ''Murder in Jerusalem: A Michael Ohayon Mystery ()

In Hebrew

*1990 ''Next to the Hunger Road (essays)'' *1994 ''I Didn't Imagine it Would Be This Way'' *1998 ''Stone for Stone'' *1999 ''A Spy in the House'' *2000 ''Requiem for Humility or Living in Jerusalem''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gur, Batya 1947 births 2005 deaths Academic staff of the Open University of Israel Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Haaretz Writers from Tel Aviv Israeli literary critics Israeli women literary critics Crime novelists Crime fiction writers Israeli women novelists Israeli crime fiction writers Women mystery writers Israeli women essayists 20th-century Israeli novelists 21st-century Israeli novelists 20th-century essayists 21st-century essayists 20th-century Israeli women writers 21st-century Israeli women writers Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works Deaths from lung cancer in Israel Burials at Har HaMenuchot