Yitzhak Laor is a poet, writer, playwright and literary critic – one of the most influential in Israel. He was born in 1948 in Pardes Hannah and grew up in Givatayim. He studied theater and literature at Tel Aviv University and wrote a PhD on the work of Hanoch Levin. Laor was politically active from the time of his military service, and was always an active speaker against Israeli occupation and Israel’s policies in the occupied territories. He has published three short stories collections, four novels, ten books of poetry, a play, two books of essays and a monograph of Hanoch Levin. His latest book of essays will be published in 2018. Laor is the literary critic of the “Culture and Literature” section of Ha’aretz. In 2005-2011, he edited and published the journal “Mitaam” for literature and radical thought. He taught literature and theater at Tel Aviv University and at the Sam Spiegel Film School. Laor has twice won the Prime Minister’s Award for literature, the Bernstein Prize for Poetry and the Yehuda Amichai Prize for Poetry.
