Amos Oz (Israel), author

Amos Oz was born in Jerusalem and moved to Hulda Kibbutz at 15. Today he lives in Arad, at the Negev area. Oz is a professor for Hebrew literature at the Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. He holds a BA in Hebrew literature and philosophy and an MA in philosophy. He was a visiting fellow at Oxford University, author-in- residence at the Hebrew University and writer-in-residence at Colorado College. Oz is one of the most important creators in Israel. He has rooted his writing in the tempestuous history of his homeland. Through his writing, both fiction and nonfiction, runs a common thread: examining human nature, recognizing its frailty but glorying in its variety, Oz consistently makes the plea for an end to ambivalence, for dialogue, for a channelling of passions towards faith in the future. With an economy of words, Oz presents the people of Israel, its political tribulations and biblical landscape. He has been named Officer of Arts and Letters of France.

He has been honoured with the French Prix Femina and the 1992 Frankfurt Peace Prize and many important Israeli prizes for literature. He won the 1998 Israel Award for literature and was nominated for a Nobel Prize for literature. He has been widely translated and is internationally acclaimed. His books include: "My Michael", "Black Box", "To Know a Woman", "The Slopes of Lebanon", "Where the Jackals Howl", "The Same Sea", "Unto Death", "Touch the Winter, Touch the Wind", "Panther in the Basement" and most recently "Tales from a Village Life".

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