International Writing Program Fellow

Orit Gidali was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship at the University of Iowa, to complete her fifth book of poetry, temporarily titled: "54 km of Lead".

Orit is a poet, a picture-book writer and an editor. She is the co-founder and a teacher in 'Sadnaot Habait' the largest creative writing school in Israel.

Her poetry books include: The Towers (2021), Deathbed (2015), Closing In (2009), Twenty Girls to Envy Me (2006), and Twenty Girls to Envy Me - a Hebrew-English Bilingual Edition of Collected Poems (2017) translated and introduced by Marcela Sulak. The book was longlisted for the Pen America Literary Award for poetry in translation 2017.

Gidali's picture books include - Kind of a Unicorn (2019), People Touched the Moon (2018), Nora and the Magic Eraser (2015), Nora the Mind Reader (2011). Her picture books have been translated into 11 languages. In 2022 she was awarded the Dvora Omer Award for children's writing.

Noa Suzanna Morag was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship (at the University of Iowa) to complete her second novel, temporarily titled: "The Second Being of Aharona Reisen".

Noa is a fiction writer and editor. Her short stories were published in Haaretz’s newspaper, ‘Oh!’ Magazine and ‘The Short Story Project’ website.

She studied Comparative Literature, Classic Studies and Philosophy at Tel-Aviv University and was the Head lector of Keter Books and Modan Publishing House. Today she is an editor for Yedioth Books and teaches creative writing at ‘Alma - Home for Hebrew Culture’.

Her debut book “User Experience” (Keter, 2016) explored the new subjectivity of the digital age.

In 2016 she received the Minister of Culture’s Award for Hebrew Literature in the ‘Young Authors’ category.

Sarah Blau was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship (at the University of Iowa) to write her fourth novel, temporarily titled "And Who Are You Today?"

Blau is an author and playwright. Her short stories were published in various anthologies in Israel and abroad. She edited and presented widely on television and radio, bringing a feminist perspective to Jewish topics. Her works are an intimate exploration of mythology, history and Judaism.

In 2014, she staged a one-woman, semi-autobiographical show, "Thy Shall Write," in which she herself portrayed a novelist nursing a broken heart while struggling to finish her great novel – a modern, romantic adaptation of the Biblical story of Jael and Sisera.

Brought up in a religious household, she now defines herself as ‘religious-light.’

Her books include: The Book of Creation (2007), Those Well-Raised Girls (2012), Stake (2014), The Others (2018)

Plays: The Last One (2004), Thy Shall Write (2014), Rhinoplasty (2105)

Roy Chicky Arad was awarded a Fullbright International Writing Program Fellowship (at the University of Iowa) to write his eighth book, a poetry collection temporarily titled, “Round Things”. Arad is a poet, author, journalist, musician, and social activist. Arad invented Kimo poetry, a hairy Hebrew version of Haiku.

His books include: The Kushite, 2000 (Shadurian); Aerobic, 2003 (Shadurian); Paintings and Poetry, 2003 (Tal Esther); Guns and Credit Cards, 2009 (Plonit); The Israeli Dream, 2010 (Xargol); The Pelican, 2013 (Xargol); and The Aircraft Carrier, 2014 (Maayan). Additionally, he released seven musical albums.

Arad is the editor of Maayan poetry, prose and ideas magazine, a journalist for Haaretz newspaper and one of the founders of the “Cultural Guerrilla” group.

Tehila Hakimi was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program Fellowship (at the University of Iowa), to write her first novel, titled temporarily - I Shot America. The novel stems from her previous interest in the relationship between gender, work and violence, and elaborates on it. Tehila Hakimi is a Poet, a Writer and a Mechanical Engineer.

Her books include: We’ll Work Tomorrow (poems). 2014; In the Water (graphic novel) with illustrations by Liron Cohen. 2016; Company (novellas). Resling Publishing House: The Lab Series for Contemporary Literature, forthcoming 2018.

Tehila received the Israeli Minister of Culture Prize for Emerging Poets 2014 and The Bernstein Prize for Literature 2015.

Yaara Shehori was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship at the University of Iowa. Yaara (fiction writer, poet, editor; Israel) is a literary editor at Keter Publishing House with a PhD in Hebrew literature. She has published many works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including the novel [Aquarium] (2016). In 2015, she received both the Levi Eshkol Prime Minister’s Prize and the Minister of Culture Award for Hebrew Literature in the ‘young authors’ category. In 2017 [Aquarium] was awarded the Bernstein Prize as best novel in Hebrew.  

Galit Dahan Carlibach is a writer, essayist and creative writing teacher.  In 2014 she won the Prime Minister's Prize for Literature and in 2013 she was awarded the National Library of Israel Pardes scholarship for young writers. Galit was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship at the University of Iowa.

Her books include:

The Locked Garden

Ghost Town

The Hedge

Odeh Bisharat is an Arab-Israeli newspaper columnist and political activist. Odeh was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship at the University of Iowa.

His first novel, [The Streets of Zatunia], (2007) was translated into Hebrew and Finnish; the Hebrew translation of his second novel, Donia, will be released in 2017. 

Yael Neeman is a fiction writer who was awarded a Fulbright International Writing Program fellowship at the University of Iowa. Yael is the author of four books, including the novels [We Were the Future] and [Orange Tuesday] (1998) and the story collection [The Option](2013), nominated for the 2014 Sapir Prize for Literature. Other awards include the 2011 Book Publishers Association of Israel’s Golden Book Award and the 2015 Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Writers. Her work has been translated into French, Polish and English.