David Grossman (; born January 25, 1954) is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2018, he was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for literature.

Biography

David Grossman was born in Jerusalem. He is the elder of two brothers. His mother, Michaella, was born in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

; his father, Yitzhak,

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

from

Dynów Dynów () (, , ) is a small town in Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 6,058 (02.06.2009). History Dynów was first mentioned in written sources in 1423. At that time, together with other villages, it belong ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

with his widowed mother at the age of nine. His mother's family was

Labor Zionist Labor Zionism () or socialist Zionism () is the Left-wing politics, left-wing, socialism, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist ...

and poor. His grandfather paved roads in the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

and supplemented his income by buying and selling rugs. His maternal grandmother, a manicurist, left Poland after police harassment. Accompanied by her son and daughter, she immigrated to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and worked as a maid in wealthy neighborhoods. Grossman's father was a bus driver, then a librarian. Among the literature he brought home for his son to read were the stories of

Sholem Aleichem Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (; May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish language, Yiddish and , also spelled in Yiddish orthography#Reform and standardization, Soviet Yiddish, ; Russian language, Russian and ), ...

. At age 9, Grossman won a national competition on knowledge of Sholem Aleichem. He worked as a child actor for the national radio and continued working for the

Israel Broadcasting Authority The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017, succeeded by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station '' Kol Yi ...

for nearly 25 years. In 1971, Grossman served in the IDF

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

corps. He was in the army when the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

broke out in 1973, but saw no action. Grossman studied philosophy and theater at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. Grossman lives in Mevasseret Zion on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He is married to Michal Grossman, a child psychologist. They had three children, Yonatan, Ruthi, and Uri. Uri was a tank-commander in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

, and was killed in action on the last day of the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

. Uri's life was later celebrated in Grossman's book ''Falling Out of Time''.

Radio career

After university, Grossman became an anchor on Kol Yisrael, Israel's national broadcasting service. In 1988 he was sacked for refusing to bury the news that the Palestinian leadership had declared its own state and conceded Israel's right to exist.

Literary career

He addressed the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in his 2008 novel, '' To the End of the Land''. Since that book's publication he has written a children's book, an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

for children and several poems. His 2014 book, ''Falling Out of Time'', deals with the grief of parents in the aftermath of their children's death. In 2017, he was awarded the

Man Booker International Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...

in conjunction with his frequent collaborator and translator, Jessica Cohen, for his novel '' A Horse Walks Into a Bar''.

Political activism

Grossman is an outspoken

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

peace activist. He has been described by ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' as epitomising Israel's left-leaning cultural elite. Initially supportive of Israel's action during the

on the grounds of self-defense, on August 10, 2006, he and fellow authors

Amos Oz Amos Oz (; born Amos Klausner (); 4 May 1939 – 28 December 2018) was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onwards, Oz was a pro ...

and

A.B. Yehoshua Avraham Gabriel "Boolie" Yehoshua (; December 9, 1936 – June 14, 2022) was an Israeli novelist, essayist, and playwright. ''The New York Times'' called him the "Israeli William Faulkner, Faulkner". Underlying themes in Yehoshua's work are Jew ...

held a press conference at which they strongly urged the government to agree to a ceasefire that would create the basis for a negotiated solution, saying: "We had a right to go to war. But things got complicated. ... I believe that there is more than one course of action available." Two days later, Grossman's 20-year-old son Uri, a Staff Sergeant in the 401st Armored Brigade, was killed in southern Lebanon when his tank was hit by an anti-tank missile shortly before the ceasefire came into effect. Grossman explained that the death of his son did not change his opposition to Israel's policy towards the Palestinians. Although Grossman had carefully avoided writing about politics, in his stories, if not his journalism, the death of his son prompted him to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in greater detail. This appeared in his 2008 book ''To The End of the Land''. Two months after his son's death, Grossman addressed a crowd of 100,000 Israelis who had gathered to mark the anniversary of the assassination of

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

in 1995. He denounced

Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert (; , ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009. The son of a former Herut politician, Olmert was first elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1973, at th ...

's government for a failure of leadership and he argued that reaching out to the Palestinians was the best hope for progress in the region: "Of course I am grieving, but my pain is greater than my anger. I am in pain for this country and for what you lmertand your friends are doing to it." About his personal link to the war, Grossman said: "There were people who stereotyped me, who considered me this naive leftist who would never send his own children into the army, who didn't know what life was made of. I think those people were forced to realise that you can be very critical of Israel and yet still be an integral part of it; I speak as a reservist in the Israeli army myself. In 2010 Grossman, his wife, and her family attended demonstrations against the spread of

Israeli settlements Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...

. While attending weekly demonstrations in Sheikh Jarrah in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

against Jewish settlers taking over houses in Palestinian neighbourhoods, he was assaulted by police. When asked by a reporter for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' about how a renowned writer could be beaten, he replied: "I don't know if they know me at all."

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Grossman withdrew his candidacy for the

for Literature after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to remove two of the judging panel who he claimed were "

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

". He was awarded the prize in 2018. * 1984:

Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

* 1985: Bernstein Prize (original Hebrew novel category) * 1991: Nelly Sachs Prize * 1993: Bernstein Prize (original Hebrew novel category) * 2001: Sapir Prize for ''Someone to Run With'' * 2004: JQ Wingate Prize (fiction) for ''Someone to Run With'' * 2004: Italian prize ''Premio Flaiano''; * 2004:

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik. There are two separate p ...

for

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

(with Haya Shenhav and Ephraim Sidon) * 2007: Emet Prize * 2007: Ischia International Journalism Award * 2007: honorary

Doctor Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

by the

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its main camp ...

, Belgium * 2008: Geschwister-Scholl-Preis * 2010:

Albatros Literaturpreis Albatros Literaturpreis (or Internationaler Literaturpreis Albatros) was an international literary award given every two years by the based in Bremen, Germany. It was awarded only five times. The award was for contemporary authors in prose, poet ...

for '' To the End of the Land'', with German translator Anne Birch Hauer * 2010:

Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international list of peace prizes, peace prize awarded annually by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (), which runs the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award ceremony is held in the Frankfurter Paulskirche, Paulskirche in Frankfurt. T ...

*2010:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

for ''To the End of the Land'' * 2011: JQ Wingate Prize for ''To the End of the Land''Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize 2011
* 2015:

St. Louis Literary Award The St. Louis Literary Award has been presented yearly since 1967 to a distinguished figure in literature. It is sponsored by the Saint Louis University Library Associates. Winners Past Recipients of the Award: *2025 Colson Whitehead *2024 J ...

from the

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

Library Associates * 2017:

for ''A Horse Walks into a Bar'' (with translator Jessica Cohen) * 2018:

* 2021: Elected a

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

International Writer * 2022: Winner of the

Erasmus Prize The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. I ...

. * 2024: Marion Dönhoff Prize for International Understanding and Reconciliation * 2024:

Heinrich Heine prize Heinrich Heine Prize refers to three different awards named in honour of the 19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine, Christian Johann Heinrich Heine: * ''Heinrich Heine prize of Düsseldorf'' * ''Heinrich Heine prize of the Ministry for Culture'' ...

for promoting human rights

Works translated into English

Fiction

* ''Duel'' �ו קרב / Du-krav, 1982 London: Bloomsbury, 1998, * ''The Smile of the Lamb'' �יוך הגדי / Hiyukh ha-gedi: roman, 1983 New York:

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

, 1990, * ''See Under: Love'' �יין ערך: אהבה / Ayen erekh—-ahavah: roman, 1986 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989, * '' The Book of Intimate Grammar'' �פר הדקדוק הפנימי / Sefer ha-dikduk ha-penimi: roman, 1991 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1994, * ''The Zigzag Kid'' �ש ילדים זיג זג / Yesh yeladim zigzag, 1994 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997, – won two prizes in Italy: the Premio Mondello in 1996, and the Premio

Grinzane Cavour Grinzane Cavour is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northeast of Cuneo. Grinzane Cavour borders the municipalities of Alba and Diano d'Alba. Origina ...

in 1997. * ''Be My Knife'' �תהיי לי הסכין / She-tihyi li ha-sakin, 1998 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001, * '' Someone to Run With'' �ישהו לרוץ איתו / Mishehu laruts ito, 2000 London: Bloomsbury, 2003, * ''Her Body Knows: two novellas'' �גוף אני מבינה / Ba-guf ani mevinah: tsemed novelot, 2003 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005, * '' To the End of the Land'' �ישה בורחת מבשורה / Isha Borahat MiBesora, 2008 Jessica Cohen, trans. Knopf, 2010, * ''Falling Out of Time''. Jessica Cohen, trans. Knopf, 2014, * '' A Horse Walks Into a Bar: A Novel''. �וס אחד נכנס לְבָּר / Soos Echad Nechnas L'bar Jessica Cohen, trans. Knopf, 2017, * ''More Than I Love My Life'', 2019, אתי החיים משחק הרבה

Nonfiction

* ''The Yellow Wind'' �זמן הצהוב / Ha-Zeman ha-tsahov, 1987 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1988, * ''Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians in Israel'' �וכחים נפקדים / Nokhehim Nifkadim, 1992 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1993, * ''Death as a Way of Life: Israel Ten Years after Oslo'' �וות כדרך חיים / Mavet ke-derech khayyim, 2003 New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, * ''Lion’s honey : the myth of Samson'' �בש אריות / Dvash arayiot, 2005 Edinburgh; New York: Canongate, 2006, * ''Writing in the Dark: Essays on Literature and Politics'' New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008, * ''The Thinking Heart: Essays on Israel and Palestine'' Jonathan Cape (Penguin Random House), 2024,

Films

* '' The Smile of the Lamb'', award-winning film written and directed by Shimon Dotan, based on the Grossman novel by the same name. * '' Someone to Run With'', directed by Oded Davidoff, based on the Grossman novel by the same name. *''The Book of Intimate Grammar'' was the basis for an award-winning film by Nir Bergman. * '' The Zigzag Kid'', directed by Vincent Bal, based on the Grossman novel by the same name.

References

External links

*
David Grossman: "Writing against the Mechanism of Retaliation"
Qantara.de, 13-10-2010. * Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature
David Grossman
(bibliography with brief biography). Retrieved January 12, 2005. * Eli ESHED, "Is Naava Home? Naava's Not Home
נאווה
בבית? נאווה לא בבית] (Hebrew). Retrieved January 12, 2005. * Grossman's speech at the Rabin Memorial November 4, 200

Retrieved November 20, 2006. * internationales literaturfestival berlin https://web.archive.org/web/20081007232013/http://www.literaturfestival.com/bios1_3_6_989.html * * * * * Johanna Baum
"A Literary Analysis of Tramatic Neurosis in Israeli Society: David Grossman's ''See Under: Love''"
''Other Voices'', vol. 2.1. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, David 1954 births Living people Bernstein Prize recipients Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli non-fiction writers Israeli novelists Israeli children's writers Jewish anti-war activists Jewish Israeli writers Writers from Jerusalem Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Prix Médicis étranger winners Recipients of Ischia International Journalism Award Bialik Prize recipients Hebrew University Secondary School alumni