If Only Sally Rooney Understood How Israeli Publishing Works
Yiftach Ashkenazi
The Irish novelist's decision not to publish her latest novel with an Israeli publisher reveals her fundamental ignorance about the actual relationship between Israeli literature, the Israeli establishment, and the Occupation.
Welcome to the British Dominion of Israel
Tal Kra-Oz
A new novel boldly attempts to pad out Israel's meager counterfactual bookshelf. But a romantic fascination with the country's pre-state period is not enough to sustain a solid piece of alternate history, a genre with its own set of rules.
Aquarium
Yaara Shehori Todd Hasak-Lowy
An excerpt from Yaara Shehori's new novel about the relationship between two deaf sisters.
Nehemyah
Yakov Z. Mayer Oded Even Or
An exclusive English translation of the 2020 Sapir Prize-shortlisted novel about a man's search for the reputed messiah Sabbatai Tzvi.
“I have a good memory because I’m too weak to forget”
Shachar Pinsker
A new English selection of Avrom Sutskever's essential prose reveals the fascinating tension between the great Yiddish writer's Israeli present and his East European past.
Elisha Appears Again
Yardenne Greenspan Yonat Rum
An exclusive English translation of Yonat Rum's tale of loss, survival and memory, winner of Haaretz newspaper's 2018 short story contest.
Set Me Free
Lina Rose
Mind-altering drugs, sexual fluidity, stealing the borders: the new Israeli children's novel that's breaking boundaries.
Yosef Haim Brenner in Life and Death
S.Y. Agnon Jeffrey Saks
A Hebrew literary giant's eulogy of another: An exclusive English translation of S.Y. Agnon's 'in memoriam' of Yosef Haim Brenner, upon the centenary of his murder.
The Manuscript
Yardenne Greenspan Ruby Namdar
An exclusive English translation of a new short story by Sapir Prize-winning novelist Ruby Namdar, set in 1970s Tel Aviv.
“Everyone is responsible for the explosion.”
Jonathan Fine
A conversation with artist Rutu Modan about her 2020 graphic novel 'Tunnels', storytelling in comics, and the relationship between truth and ideology.
A Critical Case
Liam Hoare
A new reissue of Batya Gur's oeuvre offers a welcome opportunity to revisit the founding mother of Israeli detective fiction.
The Great Israeli Novels
Jessica Cohen
A response to Haim Watzman's 'The NeverEnding Stories' from the Winter 2020 issue.
The NeverEnding Stories
Haim Watzman
Why are so many contemporary Israeli novels excruciatingly overlong?
The Unshakeable One
Liam Hoare
Reflections on Amos Oz's final lecture and his relationship with Germany.
A Prophet without Honor
Noa Manheim
Why is Lavie Tidhar, an author of global renown, so underappreciated in the land of his birth?
The Memory Monster
Yishai Sarid Yardenne Greenspan
An excerpt from Yishai Sarid's new novel about a historian who specializes in leading tours of concentration camps in Poland.
Snowtrain
Yardenne Greenspan Tal Yacob
An excerpt from Tal Yacob's novel about a violent and sexual encounter between a male prostitute and an assassin.
Introducing Maayan Eitan
TARB editors
An interview with the newest member of the Tel Aviv Review of Books editorial team.
The Woman Who Wasn’t
Maayan Eitan Illa Ben Porat
An excerpt from Illa Ben Porat's new novel about a detective investigating the case of a missing mother.
Love: A Novel
Maayan Eitan
An excerpt from Maayan Eitan's new novel about a young prostitute in a Tel Aviv-like city.
Who’s Looking at the Rhinoceros?
Yaara Shehori
An exclusive translation of Yaara Shehori's response to Assaf Inbari's Haaretz essay on autobiographical fiction.
The Rake’s Progress
Benjamin Balint
In his latest book, one of Israel's most celebrated writers turns his attention to horticultural pursuits.
I’m Building a Gallows
Rita Kogan Alex Moshkin Zackary Sholem Berger
A selection of English translations of work by the poet Rita Kogan.
Welcome to the Desert of the Real
Ioram Melcer
We’re used to saying that truth is stranger than fiction. But why does Israeli literature hold back from strangeness in both truth and fiction?
The Drive
Yair Assulin Jessica Cohen
An excerpt from Yair Assulin's new novel, translated by Jessica Cohen.
Sick of Himself? Sayed Kashua’s Track Changes
Elaine Margolin
In his new novel, Sayed Kashua seems trapped between the past and the future he seems strangely hesitant to describe.
Hebrews in America: Israeli Literature goes Global
Ari Hoffman
Zionism was conceived as an antidote to Jewish displacement, but a few generations after the establishment of the Jewish state, Israeli literature makes itself at home even far away from home.
An Enemy From Another Dimension: Israeli and Palestinian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Hagay HaCohen
The recent publication of two English-language anthologies of science fiction stories, Zion's Fiction and Palestine 100, allows us to examine the complexities of reality in the cold light of the stars.
If You Will Not Shave This Rabbit He Will Get Stoned
Dalia Rosenfeld
A short story from Dalia Rosenfeld.
Reading Lolita in Tel Aviv: ‘We must not assimilate into Israel; we must assimilate Israel into ourselves’
Shachar Pinsker
Thanks to its intrinsically conflicted nature, the Yiddish literature of the young Israel has been exceptionally potent in exploring the thematic proximity between the Holocaust and the Nakba.
Muck: Biblical Fiction as Criticism
Rachel Sharansky Danziger
Dror Burstein’s novel skillfully alternates between Jerusalem of the Prophets and the contemporaneous city, offering a fresh engagement with our conventional understanding of both.
A Tale of Time and Feeling – Amos Oz
Avi Garfinkel
"Judas," Amos Oz's last novel, is in many ways the sum total of the late author's 50-year career.
The Parting Gift: A Novel – Evan Fallenberg
Evan Fallenberg
An excerpt from Evan Fallenberg's new novel teasing out a complex narrative of love and betrayal from the narrow channel that separates the most basic—and quite often, the most base—of our emotions.
The Cost of a Lie, the Value of Nothing
Batya Shimony
A young woman, a celebrity, a sexual assault, a media storm: all very much part of the #MeToo zeitgeist, no? But Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen takes the reader along a very different path.
"I didn’t choose to write in the form of a letter, it chose me": An Interview with Evan Fallenberg
Alex Stein
An interview with Evan Fallenberg on his new novel 'The Parting Gift', focusing on issues of language, sexuality, and politics.
‘For Your Information’: Twelve Micro-Stories
Alex Epstein
Somewhere, in a parallel universe, there's an Alex Epstein who writes novels," says Alex Epstein - author of the micro-stories we present here – about his chosen literary form.
‘A Translator is First and Foremost a Reader’
Akin Ajayi
An interview with Jessica Cohen, who was awarded, together with David Grossman, the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for her translation of his book "A Horse Walks into a Bar."
Eighteen Lashes: A Novel
Assaf Gavron
An exclusive excerpt from the English translation of Assaf Gavron's forthcoming novel.
Ronit Matalon: An Appreciation
Yiftach Ashkenazi
In memoriam of the stellar Mizrahi writer who rejected identity politics
A Warm Tale of Human Foibles
Rachel Harris
Yirmi Pinkus reconstructs a 1980s Tel Aviv Ashkenazi enclave that is replete with charming vignettes but detached from the realities it aspires to hark back to.