Marcela reads from Anat Zecharia’s poem, “One, Two, Three,” which recently appeared in an issue of <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/one-two-three/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Ilanot Review</a>, in collaboration with Granta Hebrew. The poem’s title and subtitle refer to Uzi Hitman’s children song about three dwarfs who sit chatting behind a mountain. Anat is known as an outspoken poet who writes forthrightly about women's desires. Her work has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for writers. She has published three collections of poetry — As Soon as Beautiful (2008), Due to Human Error (2012), and Palestina I (2016). Her new book, “Ever After,” won an ACUM literary award for 2019. Text: <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/one-two-three/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Anat Zecharia “One, Two, Three.” Translated by Lisa Katz and Maayan Eitan. The Ilanot Review</a> Music: עוזי חיטמן - מאחורי ההר

Marcela reads from Anat Zecharia’s poem, “One, Two, Three,” which recently appeared in an issue of The Ilanot Review, in collaboration with Granta Hebrew. The poem’s title and subtitle refer to Uzi Hitman’s children song about three dwarfs who sit chatting behind a mountain. Anat is known as an outspoken poet who writes forthrightly about women's desires. Her work has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for writers. She has published three collections of poetry — As Soon as Beautiful (2008), Due to Human Error (2012), and Palestina I (2016). Her new book, “Ever After,” won an ACUM literary award for 2019. Text: Anat Zecharia “One, Two, Three.” Translated by Lisa Katz and Maayan Eitan. The Ilanot Review Music: עוזי חיטמן - מאחורי ההר

Israel in Translation

“One, Two, Three”

Marcela highlights poetry from the latest issue of The Ilanot Review which, in collaboration with Granta Hebrew, published English translations of up and coming poets and writers, most of whom are featured for the very first time. Text: <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/i-begin-to-confess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“And I Begin to Confess” by Salih Habib, translated by Christine Khoury Bishara. The Ilanot Review</a> <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/children-will-never/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“The Children I Will Never Have” by Liat Rosenblatt, translated by Jane Medved. The Ilanot Review</a> <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/rivka-speaks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“Rivka Speaks” by Ori Ferster, translated by Marcela Sulak. The Ilanot Review</a> <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/one-whos-free/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“I am the one who’s free” by Dareen Tatour, translated by Christine Khoury Bishara. The Ilanot Review</a> <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/poems-shira-stav/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Biotope” by Shira Stav, translated by Adriana X Jacobs. The Ilanot Review</a>

Marcela highlights poetry from the latest issue of The Ilanot Review which, in collaboration with Granta Hebrew, published English translations of up and coming poets and writers, most of whom are featured for the very first time. Text: “And I Begin to Confess” by Salih Habib, translated by Christine Khoury Bishara. The Ilanot Review “The Children I Will Never Have” by Liat Rosenblatt, translated by Jane Medved. The Ilanot Review “Rivka Speaks” by Ori Ferster, translated by Marcela Sulak. The Ilanot Review “I am the one who’s free” by Dareen Tatour, translated by Christine Khoury Bishara. The Ilanot Review “Biotope” by Shira Stav, translated by Adriana X Jacobs. The Ilanot Review

“The Children I Will Never Have”

This week Marcela reads from Nava Semel’s novel, Isra Ilse, an alternative history of the Jewish People in which there was no state of Israel, and no holocaust. The novel is divided into three parts. Part 1, a detective story, opens in September 2001 when Liam Emanuel, an Israeli descendant of Noah, learns about and inherits Grand Island, which is downriver from Niagara Falls. He leaves Israel intending to reclaim this “Promised Land” in America. Shortly after he arrives in America Liam disappears. Simon T. Lenox, a Native American police investigator, tries to recover Israel’s “missing son.” Text: Nava Semel, Isra Ilse. Translated by Jessica Cohen. Mandel Vilar Press (October 17, 2016)

This week Marcela reads from Nava Semel’s novel, Isra Ilse, an alternative history of the Jewish People in which there was no state of Israel, and no holocaust. The novel is divided into three parts. Part 1, a detective story, opens in September 2001 when Liam Emanuel, an Israeli descendant of Noah, learns about and inherits Grand Island, which is downriver from Niagara Falls. He leaves Israel intending to reclaim this “Promised Land” in America. Shortly after he arrives in America Liam disappears. Simon T. Lenox, a Native American police investigator, tries to recover Israel’s “missing son.” Text: Nava Semel, Isra Ilse. Translated by Jessica Cohen. Mandel Vilar Press (October 17, 2016)

Nava Semel’s “Isra Ilse”

This week Marcela returns to focus on up and coming Israeli writers who have rarely or never before been translated into English, by featuring Ayala Ben Lulu. This story appears in the latest issue of The Ilanot Review, which was a collaboration with Granta Hebrew. Ayala Ben Lulu is an Israeli poet, winner of the Teva prize for poetry. She holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.Sc. in history and philosophy of science and ideas. Text: <a href= "http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/mona-lisa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mona Lisa by Ayala Ben Lulu. Translated by Karen Marron. The Ilanot Review</a>

This week Marcela returns to focus on up and coming Israeli writers who have rarely or never before been translated into English, by featuring Ayala Ben Lulu. This story appears in the latest issue of The Ilanot Review, which was a collaboration with Granta Hebrew. Ayala Ben Lulu is an Israeli poet, winner of the Teva prize for poetry. She holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.Sc. in history and philosophy of science and ideas. Text: Mona Lisa by Ayala Ben Lulu. Translated by Karen Marron. The Ilanot Review

Ayala Ben Lulu's “Mona Lisa”

This podcast is dedicated to marriage—all the engaged couples with cold feet, newly married couples, whose memories of the ceremony are still fresh, long-married couples who survived the wedding day. We’ll be reading from and discussing the last book Ronit Matalon wrote before her death in 2017. It is called And the Bride Closed the Door, and it was awarded Israel’s prestigious Brenner Prize the day before her death. Previous Podcasts: <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2018/01/03/tale-of-two-friends-bliss-by-ronit-matalon/"> Bliss</a> <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2015/11/04/the-one-facing-us-ronit-matalons-family-%20album/"> The One Facing Us</a> <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2016/02/24/the-sound-of-her-steps/">The Sound of her Steps</a> Text: And the Bride Closed the Door, by Ronit Matalon. Translated by Jessica Cohen. New Vessels Press, 2019.

This podcast is dedicated to marriage—all the engaged couples with cold feet, newly married couples, whose memories of the ceremony are still fresh, long-married couples who survived the wedding day. We’ll be reading from and discussing the last book Ronit Matalon wrote before her death in 2017. It is called And the Bride Closed the Door, and it was awarded Israel’s prestigious Brenner Prize the day before her death. Previous Podcasts: Bliss The One Facing Us The Sound of her Steps Text: And the Bride Closed the Door, by Ronit Matalon. Translated by Jessica Cohen. New Vessels Press, 2019.

Ronit Matalon’s “And the Bride Closed the Door”

The novel, The First Mrs. Rothschild, by Sara Aharoni, tells the story of the wife of Meir Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the banking dynasty, and is written in the form of a personal journal. Sara Aharoni was born in Israel in 1953. She worked as a teacher, educator and school principal for twenty years. Together with her husband, Meir Aharoni, Sara wrote, edited and published a series of books about Israel, as well as six children’s books. She is the author of the bestselling Saltanat's Love, based on her mother’s life story and the novel Persian Silence. Text: <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/First-Mrs-Rothschild-Novel/dp/1542007275" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The First Mrs. Rothschild, a novel by Sara Aharoni. Translated by Yardenne Greenspan. Amazon Crossing, July 2019.</a>

The novel, The First Mrs. Rothschild, by Sara Aharoni, tells the story of the wife of Meir Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the banking dynasty, and is written in the form of a personal journal. Sara Aharoni was born in Israel in 1953. She worked as a teacher, educator and school principal for twenty years. Together with her husband, Meir Aharoni, Sara wrote, edited and published a series of books about Israel, as well as six children’s books. She is the author of the bestselling Saltanat's Love, based on her mother’s life story and the novel Persian Silence. Text: The First Mrs. Rothschild, a novel by Sara Aharoni. Translated by Yardenne Greenspan. Amazon Crossing, July 2019.

Sara Aharoni's “The First Mrs. Rothschild”

Today we read from the story The Shop on Main Street, written by Ladislav Grosman, a Slovak novelist and screenwriter. The story is comical and tragic, and it asks the question—are we not our brother’s keeper? Who is our brother? Text: Shop on Main Street by Ladislav Grosman. Translated by Iris Urwin Lewitova. Karolinum Press, 2019.

Today we read from the story The Shop on Main Street, written by Ladislav Grosman, a Slovak novelist and screenwriter. The story is comical and tragic, and it asks the question—are we not our brother’s keeper? Who is our brother? Text: Shop on Main Street by Ladislav Grosman. Translated by Iris Urwin Lewitova. Karolinum Press, 2019.

Grosman's “The Shop on Main Street”

Set in contemporary Tel Aviv forty eight hours after Israelis discover all their Palestinian neighbors have vanished, the novel The Book of Disappearances unfolds through alternating narrators, Alaa, a young Palestinian man who converses with his dead grandmother in the journal he left behind when he disappeared, and his Jewish neighbor, Ariel, a journalist struggling to understand the traumatic event. Text: <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Book-Disappearance-Middle-Literature-Translation/dp/0815611110" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Book of Disappearances by Ibtisam Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon.</a>

Set in contemporary Tel Aviv forty eight hours after Israelis discover all their Palestinian neighbors have vanished, the novel The Book of Disappearances unfolds through alternating narrators, Alaa, a young Palestinian man who converses with his dead grandmother in the journal he left behind when he disappeared, and his Jewish neighbor, Ariel, a journalist struggling to understand the traumatic event. Text: The Book of Disappearances by Ibtisam Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon.

“The Book of Disappearances”

What if, when you were in Kindergarten, your mother had given you a magic wand that allowed you to read people’s minds? Well, that’s just what happens in Orit Gidali’s book, Nora the Mind Reader, which will bring to a close our month of illustrated children’s books written by Israeli poets and writers. Previous Episodes on Orit Gidali: https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2016/07/26/did-you-pack-it-yourself/ https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/10/16/welcoming-in-the-ushpizin-poems-for-sukkot/ Text: <a href= "https://enchantedlion.com/all-books/nora-the-mind-reader">Nora The Mind Reader, by Orit Gidali, illustrated by Aya Gordon-Noy, translated by Annette Appel. Enchanged Lion Books, 2012.</a> Music: יהודית רביץ - הילדה הכי יפה בגן

What if, when you were in Kindergarten, your mother had given you a magic wand that allowed you to read people’s minds? Well, that’s just what happens in Orit Gidali’s book, Nora the Mind Reader, which will bring to a close our month of illustrated children’s books written by Israeli poets and writers. Previous Episodes on Orit Gidali: https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2016/07/26/did-you-pack-it-yourself/ https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/10/16/welcoming-in-the-ushpizin-poems-for-sukkot/ Text: Nora The Mind Reader, by Orit Gidali, illustrated by Aya Gordon-Noy, translated by Annette Appel. Enchanged Lion Books, 2012. Music: יהודית רביץ - הילדה הכי יפה בגן

Nora the Mind Reader

No Israeli childhood experience would be complete without Leah Goldberg. Her story “Room for Rent” was published in 1948 and is one of the most classic children’s books available in Hebrew. Shmuel Katz’s illustrations bring Goldberg’s words to life in both the original and in Jessica Setbon’s 2017 translation. Leah Goldberg born in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), in 1911, moved to Mandate Palestine in 1935. Well known during her lifetime as a poet, author, and translator, she is remembered as one of Israel's great authors and literary scholars. She earned a PhD in Semitic languages from Bonn University and helped found Hebrew University's Department of Comparative Literature, which she chaired until her death in 1970. Previous Episodes on Leah Goldberg: https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/08/21/a-fairy-tale-by-leah-goldberg/ https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2014/04/02/i-have-been-planted-with-the-pines-israel-in-translation/ Text: Leah Goldberg, Room for Rent. Illustrated by Shmuel Katz, translated by Jessica Setbon. Gefen Publishing House, 2018. Music: Leah Goldberg: Le-mi She-ino Ma'amin, sung by Yehudit Ravitz

No Israeli childhood experience would be complete without Leah Goldberg. Her story “Room for Rent” was published in 1948 and is one of the most classic children’s books available in Hebrew. Shmuel Katz’s illustrations bring Goldberg’s words to life in both the original and in Jessica Setbon’s 2017 translation. Leah Goldberg born in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), in 1911, moved to Mandate Palestine in 1935. Well known during her lifetime as a poet, author, and translator, she is remembered as one of Israel's great authors and literary scholars. She earned a PhD in Semitic languages from Bonn University and helped found Hebrew University's Department of Comparative Literature, which she chaired until her death in 1970. Previous Episodes on Leah Goldberg: https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/08/21/a-fairy-tale-by-leah-goldberg/ https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2014/04/02/i-have-been-planted-with-the-pines-israel-in-translation/ Text: Leah Goldberg, Room for Rent. Illustrated by Shmuel Katz, translated by Jessica Setbon. Gefen Publishing House, 2018. Music: Leah Goldberg: Le-mi She-ino Ma'amin, sung by Yehudit Ravitz

Leah Goldberg's “Room for Rent”

This month we continue our spotlight on beautifully written and illustrated Israeli children’s books translated into English with The Heart Shaped Leaf, by Shira Geffen and illustrated by David Polonsky. The story opens with eerily beautiful illustrations of a very rare day in Israel: an overcast sky dotted with yellow leaves; tree branches are bent in the wind, and a cobalt blue school building glows out of the gray. The book's main character Alona makes her way home from school. Text: <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Shaped-Leaf-Shira-Gefen/dp/1784382620" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Heart Shaped Leaf, by Shira Geffen. Illustrated by David Polonsky. Green Bean Press. Green Bean Books</a>

This month we continue our spotlight on beautifully written and illustrated Israeli children’s books translated into English with The Heart Shaped Leaf, by Shira Geffen and illustrated by David Polonsky. The story opens with eerily beautiful illustrations of a very rare day in Israel: an overcast sky dotted with yellow leaves; tree branches are bent in the wind, and a cobalt blue school building glows out of the gray. The book's main character Alona makes her way home from school. Text: The Heart Shaped Leaf, by Shira Geffen. Illustrated by David Polonsky. Green Bean Press. Green Bean Books

Shira Geffen's “The Heart-Shaped Leaf”

Some of Marcela's favorite children’s books in Hebrew have been written by well known poets and illustrated by some of Israel’s most talented graphic artists. This episode features The Mermaid in the Bathtub, written by the poet, essayist and writer, Nurit Zarchi, and illustrated by Rutu Modan. Translated by Tal Goldfajn, and published by Restless Books. Previous podcast on Rutu Modan: <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2015/08/20/rutu-modans-graphic-touch/"> https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2015/08/20/rutu-modans-graphic-touch/</a> Previous podcasts on Nurit Zarchi: <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/05/22/nurit-zarchis-the-plague/"> https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/05/22/nurit-zarchis-the-plague/</a> <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2015/07/15/nurit-zarchis-baby-blues/"> https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2015/07/15/nurit-zarchis-baby-blues/</a> Text: <a href= "https://restlessbooks.org/bookstore/the-mermaid-in-the-bathtub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Mermaid in the Bathtub by Nurit Zarchi. Illustrations by Rutu Modan. Translated by Tal Goldfajn. Yonder (Restless Books) 2019</a> Music: Millie, “Mermaid in the Bathtub” from Miracle Milk

Some of Marcela's favorite children’s books in Hebrew have been written by well known poets and illustrated by some of Israel’s most talented graphic artists. This episode features The Mermaid in the Bathtub, written by the poet, essayist and writer, Nurit Zarchi, and illustrated by Rutu Modan. Translated by Tal Goldfajn, and published by Restless Books. Previous podcast on Rutu Modan: https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2015/08/20/rutu-modans-graphic-touch/ Previous podcasts on Nurit Zarchi: https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2019/05/22/nurit-zarchis-the-plague/ https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2015/07/15/nurit-zarchis-baby-blues/ Text: The Mermaid in the Bathtub by Nurit Zarchi. Illustrations by Rutu Modan. Translated by Tal Goldfajn. Yonder (Restless Books) 2019 Music: Millie, “Mermaid in the Bathtub” from Miracle Milk

“The Mermaid in the Bathtub”

For the next few weeks, we will feature work published in The Ilanot Review’s special collaborative issue with Granta Hebrew, focusing on new, up-and-coming writers. And so it is a pleasure to introduce the young writer Nano Shabtai, translated by Maya Klein. Shabtai is already known in Hebrew arts and letters as a poet, dramatist and director. She was born in Jerusalem, to a large family, where she attended the High School of the Arts, majoring in theatre. She studied acting and directing at the Kibbutz College in Tel Aviv, and completed the screenwriting track at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. Since 2005 she has worked as a fiction reader for an Israeli publishing house, and as a book editor and reviewer. Her first book of poems, The Iron Girl, was published in 2006. She’s published a collection of short stories, children stories and a few plays. Text: <a href="http://www.ilanotreview.com/granta-collaboration/corn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Corn</a> by Nano Shabtai, translated by Maya Klein.

For the next few weeks, we will feature work published in The Ilanot Review’s special collaborative issue with Granta Hebrew, focusing on new, up-and-coming writers. And so it is a pleasure to introduce the young writer Nano Shabtai, translated by Maya Klein. Shabtai is already known in Hebrew arts and letters as a poet, dramatist and director. She was born in Jerusalem, to a large family, where she attended the High School of the Arts, majoring in theatre. She studied acting and directing at the Kibbutz College in Tel Aviv, and completed the screenwriting track at the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. Since 2005 she has worked as a fiction reader for an Israeli publishing house, and as a book editor and reviewer. Her first book of poems, The Iron Girl, was published in 2006. She’s published a collection of short stories, children stories and a few plays. Text: Corn by Nano Shabtai, translated by Maya Klein.

Nano Shabtai's “Corn”

Many poems in Ronny Someck's The Milk Underground deal with being a father of girls—adolescent and teenaged, young women. They explore the fraught territory of daughter’s bodies—body as dowry, body as a locus for pleasure and for betrayal, and the poems extend a fatherly embrace to the girls after their pained mother has broken off relations. <a href= "https://tlv1.fm/arts-culture/2014/12/03/ronny-someck-a-poet-of-tel-aviv-israel-in-translation/"> Previous Someck Episode</a> Text: Ronny Someck, The Milk Underground, translated by Hana Inbar and Robert Manaster. White Pine Press, 2015.

Many poems in Ronny Someck's The Milk Underground deal with being a father of girls—adolescent and teenaged, young women. They explore the fraught territory of daughter’s bodies—body as dowry, body as a locus for pleasure and for betrayal, and the poems extend a fatherly embrace to the girls after their pained mother has broken off relations. Previous Someck Episode Text: Ronny Someck, The Milk Underground, translated by Hana Inbar and Robert Manaster. White Pine Press, 2015.

Ronny Someck's “The Milk Underground”

Ayelet Tsabari was born in Israel to a large family of Yemeni descent. She grew up in a suburb of Tel Aviv, served in the Israeli army, and travelled extensively throughout South East Asia, Europe and North America. In 1998 Ayelet moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she studied film and photography. She directed two documentary films, one of which won an award at the Palm Spring International Short Film Festival. As an Israeli writer, she is unusual in that she usually writes in English, not Hebrew, though the essay we are featuring today called Barefoot and Enlightened was originally written in Hebrew. Text: <a href="http://www.ilanotreview.com" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer">Ayelet Tsabari. “Barefoot and Enlightened,” translated by the author and Janice Weizman.</a>

Ayelet Tsabari was born in Israel to a large family of Yemeni descent. She grew up in a suburb of Tel Aviv, served in the Israeli army, and travelled extensively throughout South East Asia, Europe and North America. In 1998 Ayelet moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she studied film and photography. She directed two documentary films, one of which won an award at the Palm Spring International Short Film Festival. As an Israeli writer, she is unusual in that she usually writes in English, not Hebrew, though the essay we are featuring today called Barefoot and Enlightened was originally written in Hebrew. Text: Ayelet Tsabari. “Barefoot and Enlightened,” translated by the author and Janice Weizman.

Ayelet Tsabari's “Barefoot and Enlightened”

Exploring Israeli literature in English translation. Host Marcela Sulak takes you through Israel’s literary countryside, cityscapes, and psychological terrain, and the lives of the people who create it.

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Israel in Translation

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