SHALEV, Meir << back to list Meir Shalev was born in 1948 on Nahalal, Israel’s first moshav and is one of Israel’s most celebrated novelists. His books have been translated into over 20 languages and have been bestsellers in Israel, Italy, Holland and Germany. Meir Shalev is also a columnist with the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot. (photo © Dan Porges) Bibliography & Foreign sales MY RUSSIAN GRANDMOTHER AND HER AMERICAN VACUUM CLEANER (fiction) 2009 The true and unbelievable, funny and sad story of the special relationships between the author’s grandmother and the vacuum cleaner her brother-in-law sent her from America. The story of a unique, challenging lady fighting for the cleanliness of her poor house and the love of her poor husband, confronting dust and prejudice, mud and criticism, cows and relatives, neighbors and memories. A story of ideals and journeys: from Rokitno to the Valley of Jezreel, from Orthodox Judaism to socialism, from California to Palestine, from the Ukraine to L.A. All written by the heroine’s loving, grateful, amazed grandson. Rights sold to: Holland: Ambo/Anthos; Italy, Feltrinelli; Israel; Am Oved IN THE BEGINNING (Bible) 2009 #1 Bestseller since publication The first kiss in the Bible is not a kiss of love. The first love in the Bible is not the love of a man and a woman. The first hatred in the Bible is the hatred of a man to his wife. The first laugh in the Bible is also the last. In this collection of essays Meir Shalev describes many ”firsts” in the Bible and portrays those chosen to experience them: to dream the first dream, to cry the first cry, to be the first wise man, king, prophet, spy. This is Meir Shalev’s second book dealing with biblical texts. His first, The Bible Now, created an enthusiastic following of secular readers. Rigths sold to: USA: Doubleday; Switzerland: Diogenes Verlag; Holland: Ambo/Anthos; Israel: Am Oved A PIGEON AND A BOY (Fiction) 2006 A PIGEON AND A BOY, Shalev’s sixth novel, is a captivating and moving story of a boy and his home, a nest and a girl, a pigeon and a baby. A tale of wandering passion and the return home – whether by humans or winged creatures. Concurrently, he unravels a wondrous story of love that evolves between two handlers of homing pigeons that blossoms in the early 40’s and lasts until Israel’s War of Independence, from the pigeon that carries the first love letter between the two fourteen–year olds to the pigeon that alights from the midst of the battle of Jerusalem, carrying the final letter, with it’s most unusual content that is unparalleled in the history of homing pigeons and in the annals of literature. An immediate #1 bestseller since publication in March 2006 Rights sold to: USA, Pantheon Books; Switzerland, Diogenes; Italy, Frassinelli; France, Editions des Deux Terres; Holland, Rothschild & Bach; Brazil, Editora Bertrand Brazil; China, China Civic Press; Slovakia, Slovart; Russia, Text Publishers; Israel, Am Oved Reviews ”… vivid characters and sharp dialogue… By working stories in the present and the past against each other, Shalev brings into question the validity, and the reliability, of memory…the search for a home turns into a search for a lost love, who is best re-encountered in middle age.” New York Times ”…a refreshingly nuanced picture of Israel…Shalev’s moving portrayal of a long-demoralized man imbued with a newfound joie de vivre, allows the reader to behold just how ”things can be fixed. Not only bodies. Souls, too. They can be fixed and mended.” Miami Herald ”Shalev’s novel is an intelligent symphony about home. A brilliant elucidation of questions of identity and homeland which fuses the Israeli locale with a stroll through universal time and place.” Frankfurter Allgemeine ”Shalev, a master story-teller, has written a detailed and elaborate parable which is both delicate and heartbreaking, but does not flinch from including the cruelties of life. Shalev encloses his characters in loving humor and poetically describes ordinary lives.” Sueddeutsche Zeitung FONTANELLE (Fiction) 2002 Michael Yoffe, 55, father of twins, and, in his opinion, the only normal person in the Yoffe family – tells the story of his life. It starts with his grandfather and grandmother who came to the valley - he was on foot, she was riding on his back, and continues with the daughters of the family: Hannah, Michael’s mother, a fanatic vegetarian, who is betrayed by both her husband and her son; the beautiful Pnina, who was forced to give her son to her father and has locked herself at home; Batya, who married a German and was deported, with him, to Australia, during World War II; and the small, smart Rachel, who, since her husband was killed in the Independence War (1948), has not been able to sleep alone. In his uniquely lush and humorous style, Meir Shalev has written the ultimate saga, whose publication has broken all Israeli sales records to date. An immediate #1 bestseller since publication in September 2002 Rights sold to: France, Editions des Deux Terres; Holland, Ambo/Anthos; Switzerland, Diogenes Verlag; Italy, Frassinelli; Russia, Text Publishers; Israel, Am Oved Reviews “A mixture of sense of commitment to the family and to the erotic make Shalev’s book a cheerful reading.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung “A family story full of symbols, magic, miracles, sensuality, love, cabal hatred, and --- full of freaks.” Die Welt ALONE IN THE DESERT (Fiction) 1998 At 52, Raphael is the oldest living man in his family’s history. He lives and works in the Negev desert in Southern Israel. Out of a sense his death is nearing, he finds refuge in the terrain and solitude his work bestows upon him. Alone in the desert, he draws on his youth in Jerusalem, and the four dead men and the six living women (his mother, grandmother, two aunts, sister and ex-wife) that have accompanied him through life. Rights sold to: France, Editions des Deux Terres; Switzerland, Diogenes; Holland, Ambo/Anthos; Italy, Frassinelli; Russia, Text Publishers; Israel, Am Oved Reviews “Captivating characters, vivid scenes punctuate the story of a little boy raised by five women… a superb coming-of-age novel” Livres Hebdo “This is undoubtedly Meir Shalev’s most intimate, most touching and perhaps best book….An optimistic novel marked by the weight of memory and the attachment to the country… An amusing and sensual novel..” Le Monde “...An enchanting novel... fantastic, hilarious and mysterious...Shalev has written a novel that gives you the sensation to read with your hands, eyes and skin, instead of with your head.” Financieel Dagblad “A modern master storyteller” De Groene Amsterdammer “To whoever reads just one book a year I recommend In His House in the Wilderness – it is world literature. No doubt, Meir Shalev is the greatest living Israeli novelist!” Die Welt BUT A FEW DAYS (Fiction) 1994 A poignant, funny tale by Israel’s most beloved storyteller. Zaydeh, whose mother died while he was a teenager, is looking for his father, whom he knows is one of three possible men in the village. During four meals he shares with them, he discovers his mother’s innermost secrets, and learns about love, life, and loss. Rights sold to: USA, Ecco Press; UK, Canongate; France, Calmann-Levy; Italy, Frassinelli; Switzerland, Diogenes; Holland, Ambo/Anthos; Norway, Aschehoug; Portugal, Difel; Greece, Kedros; Spain, Emece; Bulgaria, Lik; Iletsim, Turkey; Slovak Republic, Slovart; Russia, Inonstranka; Israel, Am Oved Reviews “...it is as though the Song of Solomon had been rewritten by Gabriel Garcia Marquez....you get a masterclass in the storyteller’s art.” Daily Telegraph “...Shalev’s version of Eden....the language has a sumptuous and earthy feel.” Times Literary Supplement “...the novel sparkles with fascinating characters. ...To anyone the least bit familiar with the rueful wit of Jewish humor, seen in works from the Marx Brothers to Woody Allen, it sounds both comfortingly familiar and full of expectation.” The Times ESAU (Fiction) 1991 ESAU is a saga of several generations in a family of bakers spanning the period from World War I and the inception of the British Mandate in Palestine through the mid-seventies in Israel. It is a tale of love and bereavement, pain and memory. Rights sold to: USA, HarperCollins; UK, Canongate; Switzerland, Diogenes; France, Albin Michel; Italy, Frassinelli; Holland, Ambo/Anthos; Portugal, Difel S.A.; Russia, Text Publishers; Inc; Israel, Am Oved Reviews “... a yeasty, vibrant and sprawling modern-day family saga.... into this engrossing tapestry, Shalev weaves three seemingly unrelated tales that eventually intersect with the main plot in surprising and ingenious ways.” Publishers Weekly “...Meir Shalev creates a world that has the richness invention and obsessiveness of dreams. He delivers both startling imagery and passionate, original characters whose destinies we follow through love, loss, laughter and death.” The New York Times Book Review RUSSIAN ROMANCE (THE BLUE MOUNTAIN) (Fiction) 1988 One of the top 5 bestsellers in Israeli publishing history A lyrical look at the pioneer generation of Israelis, recording the loves, hates, infidelities, feuds, and enterprises that fuel one community over three decades. Rights sold to: USA, HarperCollins; UK, Canongate; Switzerland, Diogenes; Italy, Frassinelli; France, Albin Michel; Portugal, Difel; Holland, Bzztoh/Vassallucci; Sweden, Norstedts (reverted); Denmark, Forum (reverted); Norway, Gyldendal (reverted); Poland, SIC! Publishing House; Hungary, Ulpius-Haz; China, Shanghai Translation Publishing; Slovakia, Slovart; Russia, Text Publishers; Israel, Am Oved Reviews “A giddy mixture of zany comedy, folktale, and heroic fantasy ... glitters with unexpected juxtapositions and wild shifts from the practical to the impractical.” Atlantic Monthly “Meir Shalev is a master story teller whose magic realism is similar to the art of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung “The keen intelligence and irony of Shalev’s master work creates a pictorial kaleidoscope reminiscent of Chagall.” Der Spiegel “Meir Shalev ingeniously combines the realism of a family saga with magical and mythical elements.” Vrij Nederland ELEMENTS OF CONJURATION (Literary Essays) 1999 Rights sold to: Holland, Vassallucci; Israel, Am Oved MAINLY ABOUT LOVE (Literary Essays) 1995 Rights sold to: Holland, Vassallucci; Israel, Am Oved THE BIBLE FOR NOW (Essays on favorite Bible stories) 1985 Rights sold to: Russia, Text Publishers; Italy, Frassinelli; France, Editions des Deux Terres; Holland, Vassallucci; Switzerland, Diogenes; Israel, Schocken Reviews ”Meir Shalev is writer who loves the reader and has the gift of a candle that illuminates the dim light of ancient texts. His stories are not digressions from the infinite depot of sacred stories but rather samples. Each reader is welcome to add his comments in a margin. The impact of those comments by Meir Shalev are to recapture the original, to reset it, in order to find the verse or sentence destined to open our eyes and discovering its soft core that has been preserved for everyone for thousands of years. ” Erri de Luca in Le Monde des Livres ”With humor but without disrespect, Meir Shalev invites us to discover the Bible in a different way. Irritated by the exegeses of scholars and the euphemisms of godfearing commentators, he wanted to prove that one can read the Bible by calling ’a spate, a spate’. ”Livres Hebdo IN THE BEGINNING (Bible Criticism) 2008 The first kiss in the Bible is not a kiss of love. The first love in the Bible is not the love of a man and a woman. The first hatred in the Bible is the hatred of a man to his wife. The first laugh in the Bible is also the last. In this collection of essays Meir Shalev describes many ”firsts” in the Bible and portrays those chosen to experience them: to dream the first dream, to cry the first cry, to be the first wise man, king, prophet, spy. Rights sold to: Switzerland, Diogenes; Holland, Ambo/Anthos; Israel, Am Oved RONI AND NOMI AND THE BEAR YAACOV (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 2003 Rights sold to: Israel, Am Oved AUNT MICHAL (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 2000 Rights sold to: Israel, Am Oved THE TRACTOR IN THE SANDBOX (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 1995 Rights sold to: Switzerland, Diogenes; Israel, Am Oved HOW THE NEANDERTHAL DISCOVERED THE KEBAB (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 1993 Rights sold to: Switzerland, Diogenes; Italy, Mondadori; Romania, Viitorul Romanesc; Israel, Am Oved A LOUSE NAMED THELMA (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 1990 Rights sold to: Switzerland, Diogenes; Italy, Mondadori; Spain, Editorial Entrelibros; Thailand, Chomrom Dek; Israel, Am Oved MY FATHER ALWAYS EMBARRASSES ME (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 1988 Rights sold to: USA, Wellington; Japan, Aslan Shobo; Switzerland, Diogenes; Italy, Mondadori; Holland, Vassallucci; Spain (Catalan) Cruilla; Israel, Am Oved ZOHAR’S DIMPLES (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 1985 Rights sold to: Switzerland, Diogenes; Italy, Mondadori; Israel, Am Oved A LION IN THE NIGHT (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 2004 Rights sold to: Israel, Am Oved UNDERPLATE (ill. Yossi Abulafia) 2008 Rights sold to: Israel, Am Oved A SNAKE, A FLOOD AND TWO ARKS (ill. Emanuel Luzati) 1994 Rights sold to: Italy, Frassinelli; Russia, Text Publishers; Israel, Keter Awards Meir Shalev is the recipient of The Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel), The Chiavari (Italy), The Juliet Club Prize (Italy), The Entholomogical Prize (Israel), The Wizo Prize in France, Israel and Italy, The Brenner Prize of 2006-- the highest Israeli literary recognition awarded for his last novel, THE PIGEON AND THE BOY.