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This week on Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel talks with one of Israel's finest writers and most outspoken peace activists, David Grossman. His latest work is an exploration of the myth of Samson - the modern ramifications of the biblical strongman.

INTERVIEW: Israeli novelist and essayist, Amos Oz. discusses life in Israel, and fiction, politics, and peace in the Middle East. READING: Oz reads from his latest novel To Know a Woman (La-daʻat ishah) (1991, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch). INTERVIEW: French filmmaker Diane Kurys discusses making art out of autobiography.

A.B. Yehoshua's roots go back five generations in Jerusalem. He is one of Israel's foremost novelists and an astute observer of Israeli life. In conversation with Eleanor Wachtel, he discusses his provocative new novel, The Liberated Bride - begun in the optimism of the Oslo Accord and finished during the second Intifada.

Interview with Israeli author and Holocaust survivor Aharon Apelfeld. In more than a dozen internationally acclaimed novels he evokes the sensibility of middle Europe before and after the Nazis. Apelfeld is like Elie Wiesel crossed with Kafka.

Eleanor talks with Israeli novelist and journalist David Grossman about his life and work. His latest book, The Book of Intimate Grammar, is extraordinary and disturbing.

WRITING A NATION - ISRAEL AT 50 - Episode 2 of a 5-part series on the Authors of Israel, as that country celebrates its 50th anniversary. Part I: Eleanor Wachtel interviews Israeli author Amos Elon, who discusses the messianic and idealistic motives of the Zionist settlers who came to Israel in 1948, the ideas of Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, the defining characteristics of Israeli society, a hybrid culture made up of Jews from over 100 countries, and how Israel has two capitals…

WRITING A NATION - ISRAEL AT 50 - Episode 3 of a 5-part series on the Authors of Israel, as that country celebrates its 50th anniversary. Part I: Eleanor Wachtel interviews Hanna Bat Shahar. Hailing from an ultra Orthodox background, Bat Shahar writes from inside the world of the religious Jewish community. Part II: Eleanor interviews Samīḥ al-Qāsim, the country's leading Palestinian poet.

WRITING A NATION - ISRAEL AT 50 - Episode 5 of a 5-part series on the Authors of Israel, as that country celebrates its 50th anniversary. Part I: Eleanor Wachtel interviews the provocative mystery writer Batya Gur, a woman a woman who investigates Israel's closed societies.; Part II: Interview with the dynamic young cultural critic Gadi Taub.

Today, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel, Eleanor Wachtel talks with one of its most important and outspoken Authors - Amos Oz. His latest novel revisits that significant moment in the country's history and his own.

Rutu Modan's comics have appeared in magazines and periodicals around the world, and her full-length graphic novels--inspired by real events and family history--have won major awards. Her latest book, Tunnels, is a witty, political, adventure about an archaeological dig in the West Bank. It features rivalries and conflicts that mirror the complexity of contemporary Israeli life. *Note: The audio for this episode was recorded during the Covid-19 lockdown and contains occasional low-level…

A conversation with one of Israel's finest writers and most outspoken peace activists, David Grossman. His work goes straight to the heart - whether it's fiction, or his latest book of essays, Writing in the Dark. Writing in the Dark is published by Farrar Straus & Giroux.

This week, Eleanor Wachtel speaks with the popular Israeli novelist, children's book author, and political commentator, Meir Shalev. His book, A Pigeon and a Boy, is a bestseller in America and a prize-winner in Israel. A Pigeon and a Boy is published by Schocken Books.

Etgar Keret is hailed as the voice of young Israel and one of its most radical and extraordinary writers. He's known internationally for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. His film, Jellyfish, won the 2007 Palme D'or prize at Cannes. Eleanor Wachtel spoke with Etgar Keret, via video conference from Tel Aviv, at the Jewish Book Festival in Vancouver.