Riva Rubin “In Rubin’s poetry, the Israeli landscape serves as a metonymy for emotional and philosophical states of mind. Her English is in constant dialogue with Hebrew so that her writing can be read as English poetry in every way and Israeli poetry in every way...” (Judges’ comment, President’s Prize 1999) Riva Rubin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. By the time she immigrated to Israel in 1963, her poetry and short stories had already begun to win recognition in Johannesburg and she was one of the winners of a South African PEN Short Story competition. She was a founder and editor of the Johannesburg literary journal The Purple Renoster. Her translations to English include poetry, novels, short stories, and academic texts by leading Hebrew writers: including Shin Shifra, Yoram Kaniuk, Savyon Liebrecht; A.B. Yehoshua; Hanoch Bartov; Yaffa Berlovitz; Ya’akov Besser; Devora Omer, President Ephraim Katzir, etc. Her own poetry, short fiction and articles have been published in anthologies, established journals and literary supplements in Israel, South Africa, the USA, England, Canada, New Zealand, India and Spain. She is one of only two Israelis who do not write in Hebrew that have been accepted into the Hebrew Writer’s Union in Israel. Working towards the inclusion of Israeli minority-language writers in the literary mainstream, she was one of the founders of the Israel Association of Writers in English and served for several years as its chairwoman. She edited the IAWE literary journal “arc”, and the PEN Journal of Israeli writers in English translation. She served on the Executive Committee of the Israel PEN Centre for five years. She was also the Israeli representative on the Women’s Committee of International PEN. In addition, she was the Israeli delegate to International Congresses in Jerusalem, Bled, Santiago de Campostella, Lèon and Cape Town, where she delivered the keynote address on Writing in a Minority Language. PRIZES & AWARDS President’s Prize for Literature (1999) Keren Amos Scholars and Writers Fund, President’s Office(1996) Tel Aviv Arts Fund Grants (1983, 1986) Dulzin Prize for Creative Writing (1981) New York Documentary Film Festival Bronze Medal (for narrative) South African PEN Centre Short Story Award(1963) BOOKS PUBLISHED The Poet Killers (English with Hebrew Translation by Aliza Nahor and Yonatan Ratosh);Eked (1969) 51 Poems ; (English); Eked (1979) Sound of Fire (Hebrew, translated by Ilan Sheinfeld); Sifriat Poalim; (1984) Dialogue(Hebrew, translated by Giora Leschem et al);i Iton 77(1992) Surfer ( English) Israel Writers Federation/Moriah (1997) Video Presentation “Surfer”(2006) Wind Crystals (Hebrew, translated by Giora Leschem); Keshev (2010) The Book of La-La-La; (Hebrew Original and illustrations by Riva Rubin) Yediot Aharonot/Hemed

Riva Rubin passed away in 2013. See her obituary http://esramagazine.com/blog/post/riva-rubin-1932-2013