Gabriela Avigur-Rotem

Gabriela Avigur-Rotem was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and emigrated to Israel in 1950. She studied Hebrew and English literature and worked as a high school teacher for several years, then as an editor at the Haifa University Press. She published two poetry collections before her first novel, Moẓart lo Hayah Yehudi (Mozart Wasn't a Jew) appeared in 1992 to critical and popular acclaim. It was followed by Ḥamsin ve-Ẓipporim Meshuga'ot (Heatwave and Crazy Birds, 2001) and other novels. She has twice won the Prime Minister's Prize for Literature as well as the President's Prize in 2002.