Etgar Keret; photo: Lielle Sand
Etgar Keret
Author and Screenwriter
Etgar Keret was born in 1967 in Ramat Gan, Israel. The author of books, novels and short stories is one of the leading writers of contemporary Israeli literature.
His works have been translated into 49 languages worldwide and have won numerous awards: the Book Publishers Association’s Platinum Prize several times, the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize (UK, 2008), the Charles Bronfman Prize in recognition of his work imparting an inspiring Jewish humanitarian vision (2017) and the Sapir Prize (2018), Israel’s most prestigious literary award, for his latest book Fly Already (original title: תקלה בקצה הגלקסיה), which has also been shortlisted as one of the best books of 2019 by the Financial Times and the New York Public Library.
Etgar Keret has also won numerous awards as a screenwriter and director: together with his wife Shira Geffen in 2007 the Cannes Film Festival’s “Camera d’Or” Award for their movie Jellyfish, and Best Director Award of the French Artists and Writers’ Guild. In 2010, Keret was honored in France with the decoration of “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”. The Middleman (original title: L’agent immobilier), a French speaking mini-series, starring Mathieu Amalric and co-written and co-directed by Keret and Geffen had aired in ARTE in May 2020. It received rave reviews in the French press and had won the best screenplay award at the La Rochelle fiction TV festival in France.
On five evenings in February 2021, the Jewish Museum Berlin screened the Covid-19 fairy tale Outside, projected onto the exterior wall of the Libeskind building (which was closed at the time due to the pandemic). The video was a co-production between the choreographer Inbal Pinto and the writer Etgar Keret. From October 2022 to February 2023, the Jewish Museum Berlin is presenting the exhibition Inside Out – Etgar Keret.
Etgar Keret lives with his family in Tel Aviv and lectures at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
