Meir Shalev facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Meir Shalev
Meir Shalev, 2015
Born	מאיר שלו (1948-07-29)29 July 1948 Nahalal, Israel
Died	11 April 2023(2023-04-11) (aged 74) Alonei Abba, Israel
Language	Hebrew
Nationality	Israeli
Notable awards	Bernstein Prize, Brenner Prize

Meir Shalev and the theater performance team at the end of the play "Uncle Aaron and his Rain" which won the first prize at the Haifa International Children's Theater Festival in 2017

Meir Shalev (Hebrew: מאיר שלו; 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.

He 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.

He lived in the Jezreel Valley until his death in April 2023, following a prolonged battle with cancer. Upon news of Shalev's passing, 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 ISBN: 0-06-016691-6 (1988, originally published in Hebrew as Roman Rusi) English translation in 1991 by Hillel Halkin. Reprinted, 2010
• 1991 Esau ISBN: 0-06-019040-X
• 1994 As a Few Days, also called The Four Meals or The Loves of Judith ISBN: 1-84195-114-5
• 1998 His House in the Desert (or "Alone in the Desert")
• 2002 Fontanelle ISBN: 3-257-23554-2
• 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, ISBN: 978-0-8052-4251-5
• 2013 Two She-Bears
• 2022 'Al Tisaper le-Akhicha (Hebrew: "Don't Tell Your Brother")

Non-fiction

Children's books