Zion’s Fiction: A Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, eds. Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emanuel Lottem (Mandel-Vilar Press, 2018). “This anthology showcases the best Israeli science fiction and fantasy literature published since the 1980s. The stories included come from Hebrew, Russian, and English-language sources, and include well-known authors such as Shimon Adaf, Pesach (Pavel) Amnuel, Gail Hareven,
Small Change by Yehudit Hendel, translated by Dalya Bilu, Barbara Harshav, and Marsha Pomerantz (Brandeis University Press, 2002). In this delicately structured and psychologically rigorous short story collection, Yehudit Hendel maps out a shadow land between life and death, the mundane and the fantastic. These eight stories, which should be read as a cycle, offer
Isra Isle (2005) by Nava Semel, translated by Jessica Cohen (Mandel Vilar Press, 2016). “So what are we Jews doing in the chaotic Middle East when we could easily have been living peacefully in our state “Isra Isle”, near the Niagara Falls in America? This isn’t sheer fantasy. It could have happened! Behind Nava Semel’s
The Road to Ein Harod by Amos Kenan, translated from the Hebrew into the French by ?, translated from the French by Anselm Hollo (Grove Press, 1988). “In the dreamlike reality of The Road to Ein Harod, Israel is in the grip of a civil war following a military coup. Having killed an intruder, the
Overview SFT from Israel is wonderfully diverse, with science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and everything in between. Acclaimed authors like Shimon Adaf, Orly Castel-Bloom, Etgar Keret, Dror Burstein, Ofir Touche Gafla, and Nir Yaniv move easily among genres, blurring boundaries and creating ever-more creative and unexpected stories. Certain themes–nationhood, identity, memory, trauma, family, religion–recur throughout
Overview Novels (Part 1) Novels (Part 2) Collections Anthologies
I’ve been reading the absolutely fantastic Lost Detective trilogy by Shimon Adaf and had the chance to ask its talented translator, Yardenne Greenspan, about her thoughts on translation and on Adaf’s work. Enjoy! I’ve often been asked how I approach translating different genres, tones, or styles of writing, and I’m
Hebrew title: עולם הסוף translated by Mitch Ginsburg Tor Books June 25, 2013 368 pages grab a copy here or or through your local independent bookstore or library The World of the End reminds me of the TARDIS: both are larger on the inside than their outside would suggest. By “inside” and “outside,” in terms
Hebrew title: טיט translated by Gabriel Levin FSG November 13, 2018 416 pages grab a copy here or or through your local independent bookstore or library Originally published in Hebrew in 2016 as טיט, Muck is one of the most original books I’ve read in many years. Slamming together the social, technological, and military
