Uri Orlev was born in Warsaw in 1931. When the Second World War broke out, his father – a physician and an officer in the Polish Army – was captured on the Russian front. Uri Orlev, his mother Zofia and his younger brother spent the first years of the war in Warsaw and in Warsaw ghetto. After his mother was killed by the Nazis, Orlev and his brother were cared for by their aunt Stefania. The two brothers were smuggled out of the ghetto and hidden by Polish families. In 1943 they were sent together with aunt Stefania to Bergen-Belsen. While on a train, carrying them to an unknown destination, they were liberated by the 9th U.S. Army in April 1945. In September 1945 Aunt Stefania send them in a group of children to Palestine – Eretz Israel at that time. Only in 1954 did they meet their father again in Israel. Until 1976 Orlev wrote for adults. Since then he has written for youth and children and published 32 books for different age groups. His books were translated into more than 38 languages. He has also translated children’s and adults books from Polish into Hebrew. His children’s books have received world-wide recognition. He has won more than 40 prizes and awards both in Israel and abroad, and he is the winner of The 1996 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award. Orlev lives in Yemin Moshe neighborhood is Jeruslaem with his wife. He is the father of two daughters and two sons, and grandfather to six grandchildren, so far.
