Etgar Keret

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Etgar Keret (born 1967) is an Israeli writer residing in Tel Aviv. Most of his work is focused on short stories, as well as writing for television. Some say his lean, cool writing is characteristic of a whole generation of Israeli writers, especially the literature created in Israel during the second half of the 1990s.

The first books that he published were Pipelines and Gaza Blues. After them he published several more books, among them a comic book Nobody Said It Was Going to Be Fun in collaboration with Rutu Modan. He also wrote for the Israeli television show The Cameri Quintet for its first three seasons. In 1993 he won first prize in the Alternative Theater Festival in Akko for Entebbe A Musical which he wrote with Jonathan Bar Giora.

Keret publishes some of his works on the Hebrew-language web site "Bamah Hadashah" (New Stage) which presents a platform for new works, although he turned into a renowned writer even before the establishment of that site.

The short film "Skin Deep" (Malka Lev Adom) which he wrote and directed with Ran Tal won the Israel Film Academy prize and first place in the Munich International Festival of Film Schools (1996). In Israel, Keret also won the Prime Minister's Prize for Literature and the Ministry of Culture Cinema Prize.

Since 1995, Keret lectures in the film school of Tel Aviv University. His story "Siren" which deals with the contradictions in the current Israeli situation is included in the curriculum for the national matriculation in literature.

His novella titled "Kneller's Happy Campers" has been adapted by director Goran Dukic into a feature-length film called Wristcutters: A Love Story Starring Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, and musician/actor Tom Waits. The film premieres at the 2006 Sundance film festival.

A comic adaptation Pizza Kamikaze by Asaf Hanuka has also been created from the same novella.

Works published in English

Selected Stories, Tel Aviv, Actus Tragicus, 1998.
How to Make a Good Script Great, Tel Aviv, Actus Tragicus, 1996.
Jetlag (comics), Tel Aviv, Actus Tragicus, 1998; Top Shelf Productions, 1999, ISBN 9659022107.
The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God & Other Stories, New York, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2001, ISBN 0312261888 (hardcover); Sydney, Pan Macmillan, 2003, ISBN 0330364286; New York, Toby Press, 2004, ISBN 1592641059 (paperback). Original title: Kneller's Happy Campers (Ha-Kaitanah Shel Kneller).
Dad Runs Away With The Circus, Cambridge, MA, Candlewick Press, 2004, ISBN 0-76-362247-8.
The Nimrod Flipout, London, Chatto & Windus, forthcoming; Sydney, Picador/Pan Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 0-33036-455-3. Original title: Anihu.
Gaza Blues with Samir el-Youssef, London, David Paul, 2004, ISBN 0954054245. Original title: Missing Kissinger (Ga'aguai Le-Kissinger).
Pizzeria Kamikaze (comics), illustrated by Asaf Hanuka, Alternative Comics, 2005, ISBN 1-891867-90-3.

External links

[Profile of Keret in "Tikkun" magazine (English)]
[Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature] has a Keret bio and list of works
[Etgar Keret at Bamah Hadashah (in Hebrew)]
[Wristcutters: A Love Story film official website]
[Etgar Keret's article on the New York Times] discussing Israeli politics, via Pen American Center

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