David Grossman

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This article is about Israeli author. For television director, see David Grossman (director). For author of 'killology' books, see Dave Grossman (author).
David Grossman (2007)
David Grossman (2007)

David Grossman (Hebrew: דויד גרוסמן‎) born in Jerusalem on January 25, 1954, is an Israeli author of fiction, nonfiction, and youth and children's literature. His books have been translated into numerous languages. The Yellow Wind, his nonfiction study of the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip met with acclaim abroad but sparked controversy at home.

Grossman studied Philosophy and Theater at Hebrew University. He worked as a correspondent and radio actor for Kol Yisrael, Israel's national broadcasting service. He was one of the presenters of Cat in a Sack, a children's program broadcast from 1970 to 1984. His book Duel was first aired as a radio drama on Kol Yisrael. Together with Dani Eldar, he hosted the slapstick radio program, Stutz (Yiddish: "that can happen"). In 1984, Grossman won the Prime Minister's Prize for Creative Work. In 2007 he will be awarded the Eme"t Prize.

Grossman, an outspoken peace activist, supported Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. On August 10, 2006, however, he and fellow authors Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua held a press conference at which they urged the government to agree to a ceasefire that would create the basis for a negotiated solution.

Two days later, his 20-year-old son Uri, a staff sergeant in an armoured unit, was killed by an anti-tank missile during an IDF operation in southern Lebanon shortly before the ceasefire. [1] In a premonitory interview in 2000, he declared that Israelis support 'a culture of death': "Married couples say, 'We'll have three children, so if one of them dies, there will be two left'." [2]

On February 2, 2007, Grossman was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

Grossman lives in Mevasseret Zion on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He is married and the father of three children, Jonathan, 26, Ruth, 15, and the late Uri.

Contents

[edit] Fiction works in English translation

  • The Smile of the Lamb [חיוך הגדי / Hiyukh ha-gedi: roman, 1983]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1990, ISBN 0-374-26639-5
  • See Under: Love [עיין ערך: אהבה / Ayen erekh—-ahavah: roman, 1986]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989, ISBN 0-374-25731-0
  • The Book of Intimate Grammar [ספר הדקדוק הפנימי / Sefer ha-dikduk ha-penimi: roman, 1991]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1994, ISBN 0-374-11547-8
  • The Zigzag Kid [יש ילדים זיג זג / Yesh yeladim zigzag, 1994]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1997, ISBN 0-374-52563-3
  • Be My Knife [שתהיי לי הסכין / She-tihyi li ha-sakin, 1998]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001, ISBN 0-374-29977-3
  • Someone to Run With [מישהו לרוץ איתו / Mishehu laruts ito, 2000]. London: Bloomsbury, 2003, ISBN 0-7475-6207-5
  • Her Body Knows: two novellas [בגוף אני מבינה / Ba-guf ani mevinah: tsemed novelot, 2003]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005, ISBN 0-374-17557-8

[edit] Nonfiction works in English translation

  • The Yellow Wind [הזמן הצהוב / Ha-Zeman ha-tsahov, 1987]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1988, ISBN 0-374-29345-7
  • Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians in Israel [נוכחים נפקדים / Nokhehim Nifkadim, 1992]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1993, ISBN 0-374-17788-0
  • Death as a Way of Life: Israel Ten Years after Oslo [מוות כדרך חיים / Mavet ke-derech khayyim, 2003]. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2003, ISBN 0-374-10211-2
  • Lion’s honey : the myth of Samson [דבש אריות / Dvash arayiot, 2005]. Edinburgh; New York: Canongate, 2006, ISBN 1-84195-656-2

[edit] Youth literature in English translation

[edit] Movies

[edit] References

[edit] External links