PROFILE: David Grossman, leading critic of policy on Palestinians

Jun 10, 2010, 12:03 GMT

Tel Aviv - David Grossman is one of Israel's leading authors and critics of his country's policy toward the Palestinians, whose books mirror the complex, and often conflicting, reality of his time and place.

The red-haired 56-year old author was on Thursday was named as this year's winner of Germany's most prestigious cultural award, the German Book Trade Peace Prize, for his efforts at Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.

It is the latest literary award given to a writer whose books, the German panel judges said, 'show that the spiral of violence, hatred and displacement in the Middle East can only be ended through listening, restraint and the power of the word.'

Grossman's writings, translated into more than 30 languages, address issues centering around Israeli identity and the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

Like other leading Israeli authors, such as Amos Oz, he is also a regular and passionate participant in the politicial debate over peaceful solutions to the Middle East conflict.

'In his novels, essays and reports he tries to understand and describe not only his own position, but also that of those who think otherwise,' the Book Trade Peace Prize panel said.

Grossman was born in Jerusalem in 1954, to working-class parents. His professional life began even before left school when he was a reporter for Israel Radio's youth service. He remained with the organization until 1989, serving variously as a new editor, announcer, and author of radio plays.

After completing his military service, he studied Philosophy and and Theatre at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in 1983 published his first collection of stories.

It was his first book - 'The Smile of the Lamb,' which looked at life in the West Bank under Israeli occupation - which brought him to national attention.

But his career really took off with the publication of his second book, 'See Under: Love' and he came to be seen as one of Israel's most important literary voices.

It was a reputation he cemented with such further works as 'The Book of Intimate Grammar,' 'Be My Knife,' 'The Zig-Zag Kid,' and 'Someone to Run With.'

Politically liberal, Grossman's criticism of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians found an outlet in his non-fiction books, which include 'The Yellow Wind,' 'Sleeping on a Wire,' 'Death as a Way of Life,' and 'Lion's Honey: The Death of Samson.'

Grossman initially supported Israel's 2006 war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, but as the fighting wore on, he and fellow authors Amos Oz and A B Yeshua, held a news conference in which they urged the government to accept negotiations.

Two days later, on August 12, Grossman's son Uri was killed by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile.

Grossman has been awarded numerous literary prizes for his work, such as the Valumbrosa Prize, the Premio Grinzane, the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Premio Mondelo, the Vittorio de Sica Prize, the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation, the Juliet Club Prize, the Buxtehuder Bulle, the Mane's Sperber Prize and the Sapir Prize.

For his political commitment he has received the Har Zion Prize. In 1998 he was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Married, and father to Jonathan and Ruth, as well as the late Uri, Grossman lives on the outskirts of Jerusalem.