Nathan Shaham
נתן שחם
נתן שחם
January 29, 1925
June 18, 2018 (aged 93)
Beit Alfa, Israel
Writer, novelist and playwright
- Bialik Prize (1988)
- National Jewish Book Award (1992)
- Newman Prize (1993)
- ADAI-WIZO Prize (2005)
- Prime Minister's Prize (2007)
- Israel Prize (2012)
Biography[edit]
Born in Tel Aviv, Shaham was a member of Kibbutz Beit Alfa from 1945-2018, and served with the Palmach in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[2] He was the son of Eliezer Steinman, the Hebrew author and essayist.
Shaham was editor-in-chief of Sifriat Poalim Publishing House. He was Israel's cultural attaché in the United States from 1977–80, and a former vice-chairman of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.
He died in his home in Beit Alfa on June 18, 2018.[3]
Awards[edit]
Shaham was the winner of several literary awards, including the Bialik Prize (1988),[4] the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction for Rosendorf Quartet (1992),[5] the Newman Prize (1993), the ADAI-WIZO Prize for The Rosendorf Quartet (Italy, 2005), and the Prime Minister's Prize (2007).[6]
In 2012, he won the Israel Prize for Hebrew Literature and Poetry; the prize jury called Shaham one of the outstanding authors of Israel’s generation of founders and noted the “lively and rich” style of his plays, fiction and nonfiction works.[7]