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 Ginosar with his family. He is the son of the Jerusalem poet Yitzhak Shalev. His cousin Zeruya Shalev is also a writer.
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 stories from his personal point of view, which first appeared in the newspaper Haaretz.
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
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
1948 births
2023 deaths
Bernstein Prize recipients
Brenner Prize recipients
Deaths from cancer in Israel
Hebrew-language writers
Israeli children's writers
Israeli Jews
Israeli novelists
Jewish writers
Modern Hebrew writers
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
People from Nahalal
20th-century novelists