David Grossman

David Grossman is an Israeli author who has won both the Sapir Prize, for best literary work, and the Bialik Prize, for best Hebrew literature.

Grossman (born January 25, 1954) was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces in military intelligence. Grossman later studied philosophy and theater at the Hebrew University.

While in university, Grossman continued his career at Israel Radio, where he had started at the age of 10 as a correspondent for youth broadcasts. He eventually was named anchor for Israel's national broadcasting service but was sacked in 1988 after refusing to bury a story on the Palestinian leadership.

Grossman has written dozens of books and achieved international acclaim for his works, which have been translated into more than 30 languages. In 2001, he was awarded the annual Sapir Prize, Israel's most prestigious literary award, for his work Someone to Run With. In 2004, Grossman was a co-recipient of the Bialik Prize for Literature from the Tel Aviv municipality. In 2007, he received the Emet Prize which recognizes excellence in academic and professional achievements that have significant contributions to Israeli society.

An outspoken peace activist, Grossman thrust his political views into the public debate during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. On August 10, 2006, Grossman and fellow authors Amoz Oz and A.B. Yehoshua held a press conference in which they urged the government to agree to ceasefire. Tragically, two days later, Grossman's son Uri was killed by an anti-tank missile fired at his armored unit in southern Lebanon.

Sources: Copyright The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature. Reprinted by kind permission of The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature, Ramat Gan Israel. The Institute web site contains biographies of 300 Israeli authors. Photo by Erwin Schenkelbach; Wikipedia