Meir Shalev

Meir Shalev (; 29 July 1948 – 11 April 2023) was an Israeli writer and newspaper columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Shalev's books have been translated into 26 languages.

Biography

Shalev was born in Nahalal, Israel. Later he lived in Jerusalem and at Kibbutz Ginosar with his family. He is the son of the Jerusalem poet Yitzhak Shalev. His cousin Zeruya Shalev is also a writer.

He attended high school in the Hebrew University Secondary School. Shalev was drafted into the IDF in 1966, and did his military service in the Golani Brigade. He served as a soldier, a squad leader in the brigade's reconnaissance company. Shalev fought in the Six-Day War, and a few months after the war was injured in a friendly fire incident.

Shalev began his career by presenting ironic features on television and radio. He also moderated the program ''Erev Shabbat'' ("Friday night") on Israel channel one. His first novel, ''The Blue Mountain'', was published in 1988.

Shalev also wrote non-fiction, children's books, and a weekly column in the weekend edition of '' Yediot Ahronot''.

Shalev lived in the Jezreel Valley until his death on 11 April 2023, following a prolonged battle with cancer. He was 74. Upon news of Shalev's death, Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed condolences: "Israel has lost one of its greatest storytellers, he made us love the Hebrew language, the Hebrew Bible, and ourselves, the Jewish People".

Views and opinions

According to a January 2009 interview, Shalev identified with the Israeli left and believed that the conflict with the Palestinians could be resolved by establishing two states for two peoples. However, he expressed disappointment towards the extremism in the Palestinian camp, saying: "Radical Palestinians still say that the only solution would be for all Jews to pack their bags and return to where their grandparents came from. When there are no more Jews left in the Middle East, then the problem is solved, according to their logic. As long as they continue to think that way, there will be no peace. We are here and we are going to stay. Only after that fact is generally accepted can progress be made."

Awards and recognition

* Bernstein Prize (original Hebrew novel category) (1989)
* Juliet Club Prize (1999)
* Chiavari Prize (1999)
* Brenner Prize (Israel) for ''A Pigeon and a Boy'' (2006)
*National Jewish Book Award for ''A Pigeon and a Boy'' (2007)
*Porta Siberia Prize (2009)
*Pratt Award for Environmental Journalism (2009)
*Neuman Prize (2011)
* ''Chevalier'' of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, along with Michal Govrin, in 2018

Published works

Fiction

* 1988 ''The Blue Mountain'' (1988, originally published in Hebrew as ''Roman Rusi'') English translation in 1991 by Hillel Halkin. Reprinted, 2010
* 1991 ''Esau''
* 1994 ''As a Few Days'', also called ''The Four Meals'' or ''The Loves of Judith''
* 1998 ''His House in the Desert'' (or "Alone in the Desert")
* 2002 ''Fontanelle''
* 2006 ''A Pigeon and A Boy'' (originally published in Hebrew as ''Yona v'naar'' by Am Oved Publishers, Tel Aviv), translated by Evan Fallenberg, Random House, New York,
* 2013 ''Two She-Bears''
* 2022 Al Tesaper le-Akhicha'' (Hebrew: "Don't Tell Your Brother")

Non-fiction

* 1985 ''Bible Now'', a book containing interpretations of Hebrew Bible.
* ''Elements of Conjuration''
* 1995 ''Mainly About Love''
* 1998 ''My Jerusalem''
* 2008 ''In the Beginning: Firsts in the Bible''
* 2011 ''Beginnings: Reflections on the Bible's Intriguing Firsts'' (Nonfiction)
* 2011 ''My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner'' Meir Shalev's My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner
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* 2017 ''My Wild Garden''

Children's books

* 1982 ''Michael and the Monster of Jerusalem''
* 1987 ''Zohar's Dimples''
* 1988 ''My Father Always Embarrasses Me''
* 1990 ''Nehama the Louse'' (also published as ''A Louse Named Thelma'')
* 1993 ''How the Neanderthal Inadvertently Invented Kebab''
* 1994 ''A flood, a snake and two arks''
* 2021 “A Snake, a Flood, a Hidden Baby” (Eng, Kalaniot Books, USA)
* 1995 ''The Tractor in the Sandbox''
* 2000 ''Aunt Michal''
* 2004 ''A Lion at Night''
* 2004 ''Roni and Nomi and the Bear Yaacov''
* 2007 ''Uncle Aaron and his Rain''

References

Meir Shalev in duet with jazz guitarist Dekel Bor

External links

"You were caught with your trousers down in a war of your own making"
speech at Tel Aviv mass rally, May 2007

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shalev, Meir
1948 births
2023 deaths
Bernstein Prize recipients
Brenner Prize recipients
Deaths from cancer in Israel
Hebrew-language writers
Israeli children's writers
Jewish Israeli writers
Israeli novelists
Modern Hebrew writers
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
People from Nahalal
20th-century Israeli novelists
Burials at Nahalal Cemetery
Hebrew University Secondary School alumni