Uri Orlev (; 24 February 1931 – 26 July 2022) born Jerzy Henryk Orłowski, was a Polish-born Israeli children's author and translator. He received the

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

in 1996 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature", the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works in 1972 and the

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 in 2006.

Biography

Uri Orlev was born in 1931 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland, the son of a physician. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, his father was taken captive by the Russians and he lived with his mother in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

until she was killed by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. A relative hid him and his brother in the ghetto until he was caught by the Germans and deported to the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

in 1943. As a prisoner in Bergen-Belsen, he wrote and recited poetry which would later be published by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

in 2005. He survived the Holocaust and was liberated by the British Army in 1945. He and his brother emigrated to Israel and were placed in kibbutz Ginegar. They were joined by their father in 1954. After finishing high school on the kibbutz, Orlev served 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 ...

as an infantryman. Upon completing his regular military service, Orlev returned to the kibbutz and began working in the cowsheds. He continued to serve as a reservist and subsequently fought in the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

, and

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 ...

. While living and working at Ginegar, Orlev began imagining short stories. He typically spent his weekends travelling to and from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

to watch movies there along with a German-born kibbutznik named Shlomo. During their bus rides, Orlev told Shlomo his stories, who urged him to write them down. After writing a rough draft, Orlev was granted permission by the kibbutz to spend a year with the family of Eliyahu Soloveitchik, a man he'd met in Bergen-Belsen who was living near Haifa. While there, he continued writing his manuscript, which would become his book ''The Lead Soldiers''. He returned to Ginegar where he resumed his cowshed work and had the book published in 1956. In 1968, Orlev and his family moved to the Yemin Moshe neighborhood of

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 ...

. He began writing

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

as a profession and ended up publishing over 30 books, which are often biographical, about his childhood during

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

or his early years in Israel, and from an accessible perspective for children. His books have been translated from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

into 36 languages. Among his more famous works are ''Run, Boy, Run'', ''The Island on Bird Street'' and ''The Lead Soldiers''. He was also a translator of

Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...

into

, such as ''

Quo Vadis ''Quo vadis?'' (, ) is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?". It is commonly translated, quoting the KJV translation of John 13:36, as "Whither goest thou?" The phrase originates from the Christian tradition regarding Saint Peter's fi ...

'' by

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...

. Orlev appeared in the documentary film "Life is Strange" where he was interviewed about his books and life before World War II. Orlev was twice married and had two sons, a daughter, and four grandchildren. One of his sons, Itamar Orlev, is also a writer and made his debut with the novel ''Bandit'' in 2015. He died on 26 July 2022.

Awards and critical acclaim

The biennial

conferred by the

International Board on Books for Young People International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Orlev received the writing award in 1996. The jury stated: In 1972, he received the

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 ...

. In 2006, he was awarded the

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 ...

(jointly with Ruth Almog and Raquel Chalfi). In the U.S., four books by Orlev have won the

Batchelder Award The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award, is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English and published in the U.S. The ...

in English-language translations by Hillel Halkin published by

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

. The annual American Library Association award recognizes the "children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States". The four American titles were ''The Island on Bird Street'', ''The Man from the Other Side'', ''The Lady with the Hat'', and ''Run, Boy, Run'', published from 1984 to 2003 by Houghton Mifflin, eventually by its Walter Lorraine Books imprint.

Published works

Awards

* 1992:

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 ''The Man From the Other Side''

References

External links

Biography & Bibliography
from the ''Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Orlev, Uri 1931 births 2022 deaths Israeli children's writers Jewish Israeli writers Polish children's writers Polish emigrants to Israel Polish male writers Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Writers from Warsaw Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing winners Warsaw Ghetto inmates Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works Bialik Prize recipients