Gabriel Levin (; born 1948,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) is a poet, translator, and essayist.

Biography

Gabriel Levin is the son of American novelist Meyer Levin and French novelist

Tereska Torrès Tereska Torrès (born Tereska Szwarc; 3 September 192020 September 2012) was a French writer known for the 1950 book '' Women's Barracks'', the first "original paperback bestseller." In 2008 historians credited the republished book as the first p ...

. His younger brother Mikael Levin is a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based photographer. While growing up, Gabriel and his family split their time between New York, Paris, and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Today he lives in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Writing of his volume of essays ''A Dune's Twisted Edge,'' poet

Ange Mlinko Ange Mlinko (born September 19, 1969 in Philadelphia) is an American poet and critic. The author of six books of poetry, Mlinko was named a Guggenheim Fellow for 2014–15. She teaches poetry at the University of Florida, where she directs the MFA ...

has described Levin as "an American-born Israeli poet who has parlayed his restless peripatetics into a poetics."

Literary career

Levin is one of the founding editors of Ibis Editions, a small non-profit press devoted to publishing literature of the Levant. His work has appeared in numerous literary magazines including '' P. N. Review'', ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'', ''

Chicago Review ''Chicago Review'' is a student-run literary magazine founded in 1946 and published quarterly in the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago. The magazine features contemporary poetry, fiction, and criticism, often publishing works in tr ...

'', '' Raritan'', ''

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; , ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the c ...

'', and ''

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 ...

''. In 2012 British composer

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; 10 August 1932 – 26 August 2024) was a German-born English composer of contemporary classical music and academic teacher. A long-time professor of music at the University of Cambridge, Goehr influenced many notable c ...

set Levin's book ''To These Dark Steps'' to music for

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

, children's

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

, and ensemble. The piece premiered in September 2012 at the

CBSO Centre The CBSO Centre is the administrative home and rehearsal centre of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Choruses ( City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus and City of ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. Levin's writing has been described as part of the "Neo-modernist" tradition.

Published works

Poetry

*''Sleepers of Beulah'' –

Sinclair-Stevenson Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd was a British publisher founded in 1989 by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson became an editor at Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British p ...

, London 1991 *''Ostraca'' –

Anvil Press Poetry Anvil Press Poetry is an independent poetry publisher based in Greenwich, south-east London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a popu ...

, London 2000; French translation ''Ostraca'', Edition bilingue français-anglais, Le Bruit du temps, 2010 *''The Maltese Dreambook'' –

, London 2008 *''To These Dark Steps'',

, London 2012 *''Coming Forth By Day'', Carcanet, Manchester 2014 *''Errant'', Carcanet, Manchester 2018

Prose

*''Hezekiah's Tunnel'' – Publisher: Ibis Editions; 1997 (French translation: ''Le Tunnel d'Ezéchias et deux autres récits'', Le Bruit du temps, 2010) "delightful, discursive but moody midnight meditation on Jerusalem"1

Essays

*''The Dune's Twisted Edge'', Journeys in the Levant –

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

, Chicago 2013

Translations

*''Poems from the Diwan'' –

Yehuda Halevi Judah haLevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; ; ; c. 1075 – 1141) was a Sephardic Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Halevi is considered one of the greatest Hebrew poets and is celebrated for his secular and religious poems, many of whic ...

(Author), Gabriel Levin (Translator)

2002 *''On the Sea: Poems by Yehuda Halevi'' – Translated and introduced by Gabriel Levin,

Ibis Press The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

*''The Little Bookseller Oustaz Ali by Rassim''; "ravishly" (The Jerusalem Post) translated and introduced by Gabriel Levin *''So What: New & Selected Poems (With a Story) 1971–2005'' by

Taha Muhammad Ali Taha Muhammad Ali (; 1931 in Saffuriyya, Galilee – October 2, 2011 in Nazareth) was a Palestinian poet. Biography Ali fled to Lebanon with his family when he was 17 after their village came under heavy bombardment during the 1948 Arab-Is ...

(Author),

Peter Cole Peter Cole (born 1957) is a MacArthur-winning poet and translator who lives in Jerusalem and New Haven. Cole was born in 1957 in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended Williams College and Hampshire College, and moved to Jerusalem in 1981. He has been ...

(Translator), Yahya Hijazi, and Gabriel Levin (Translator and Introduction,

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 by Sam Hamill, Tree Swenson, Bill O'Daly, and Jim Gautney, specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper C ...

, 2005) *''Never Mind: Twenty Poems and a Story'' by

(Author),

(Translator), Yahya Hijazi (Translator), and Gabriel Levin 2000 Ibis Press . *
Muck
', A novel, by Dror Burstein, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018

Collections

*''The Water's Edge: Meetings of Image And Word'', Ed. Ardyn Halter, with poems by Jennie Feldman,

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

Geoffrey Hill Sir Geoffrey William Hill, Royal_Society_of_Literature#Fellowship, FRSL (18 June 1932 – 30 June 2016) was an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston Uni ...

, Gabriel Levin,

Michael Longley Michael George Longley (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am movi ...

Jamie McKendrick Jamie McKendrick (born 27 October 1955) is a British poet and translator. Early life and education McKendrick was born in Liverpool, 27 October 1955, and educated at the Quaker school, Bootham, York, and Liverpool College. He studied English L ...

Paul Muldoon Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he has been both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humani ...

Don Paterson Donald Paterson (born 1963 in Dundee) is a Scottish poet, writer and musician. His work has won several awards, including the Forward Poetry Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was recipient of the Queen' ...

Robin Robertson Robin Robertson (born in 1955) is a Scottish poet. Biography Robertson was brought up on the north-east coast of Scotland, but has spent most of his professional life in London. After working as an editor at Penguin Books and Secker and War ...

, and Stephen Romer,

Lund Humphries Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham (Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in B ...

, Burlington 2006.

Other

*''Found in Translation: 100 Years of Modern Hebrew Poetry'' by Robert Friend (translator editor) and Gabriel Levin (introduction and biographical notes) -1999 *''Pleasant if somewhat rude views'' by Mikael and Gabriel Levin, August 2005 One Star Press * Préface to

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

, '' Croquis étrusques'', Le Bruit du temps, 2010.

References

External links

Ibis edition's official websiteStephen Romer's review of ''Poems from the Diwan''Eric Ormsby's review of ''Ostraca'' and ''Poems from the Diwan''
* ttp://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/levantine-travel-narratives-that-roam-far-and-wide.premium-1.508138/ Review of ''The Dunes twisted Edge'', Haaretz
After Webern, featured in TLS, introduced by Andrew McCullochSleeper in the Wadi, featured in The Guardian

Review The Maltese Dreambook , Charles Bainbridge, The GuardianReview of The Dune's Twisted Edge, Kanishk Tharoor, The National

Henry King "In the Footsteps of Gabriel Levin, PN review

Adam Kirsch, review of "The Dunes Twisted Edge"

starred review of "Muck", by Dror Burstein, tras. Gabriel Levin, Kirkus reviews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Gabriel Israeli Jews Writers from Jerusalem 1948 births Living people French emigrants to Israel Israeli people of French-Jewish descent Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Writers from Paris 20th-century translators 21st-century translators Israeli male poets 20th-century Israeli poets 21st-century Israeli poets Israeli translators 20th-century French male writers 21st-century male writers French male non-fiction writers