Erez Biton
Erez Biton (born 1942 in Oran, Algeria) is an Israeli poet of Moroccan descent. He is the 2015 recipient of the Israel Prize for Hebrew Literature and Poetry, among other literary awards.
Early life and education
Born in North Africa, he immigrated to Israel in 1948 with his family via France. At the age of 10, he lost his vision and his left hand to a stray hand grenade that he found. The following year he went to school at Jerusalem's Institute for the Blind. He earned a B.A. in social work from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an M.A. in psychology at Bar-Ilan University.[1]
Career
Following his studies, Biton worked as a social worker in Ashkelon for seven years and as a psychologist in an outlying town. He worked as a journalist and published a weekly column in the Israeli mainstream daily Maariv.[1] His first book, Mincha Marokait (Moroccan Gift), published in 1976, established him as the founding father of Mizrahi poetry in Israel.[2]
Works
Poetry
- Mincha Maroka'it (Hebrew: מנחה מרוקאית) "Moroccan Gift," Eked, 1976
- Sefer Hana'na (Hebrew: ספר הנענע) "The Book of Mint," Eked, 1979
- Tsipor bein Yabashot (Hebrew: ציפור בין יבשות) "Intercontinental Bird", 1990
- Timbisert, Tsipor Maroka'it (Hebrew: תמביסרת, ציפור מרוקאית, "Timbisert, a Moroccan Bird", Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2009
- Nofim Khavushei Einayim (Hebrew: נופים חבושי עיניים) "Blindfolded Landscapes", Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2013
Drama
- Sulika (Hebrew: סוליקה) "Soulika", Snir, 2005
Awards
- (2015) Biton was awarded the Israel Prize for Literature, the first Mizrahi Jew to receive it.[3] The prize committee described his poems as being "the epitome of courageous dealings, sensitive and deep with a wide range of personal and collective experiences centered around the pain of migration, planting roots in the country, and the reestablishment of the Mizrahi identity as an integral part of the overall Israeli portrait.”
- (2014) Bialik Prize for Lifetime Achievement
- (2014) Yehuda Amichai Prize
- (1988) Prime Minister's Prize
- (1982) Miriam Talpir Prize
Personal life
Erez Bitton is married to Rachel Calahorra Bitton and the couple have two children.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Erez Biton". The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
- ↑ Hever, Hannan (2012). ""We are the Fragments of Rhymes": The Poetry of Erez Biton between East and West". Journal of Levantine Studies 2 (2).
- ↑ ""First Mizrachi Winner of Israel Prize in Lierature"". 29 March 2015.
External links
- Biography and bibliography at the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
Further reading
- The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, 2003, ISBN 0-8143-2485-1
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