Anat Levin was born in Israel to a mother of Russian descent from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and a father from Kornitz, Belarus. Her debut book of poems, Revolving Anna, was published in 2008, and won the Ministry of Culture Award for Poetry that year.
That book made writer Lior Granot almost miss a train; she bought it at the station as a gift for a friend and then felt the need to run back and get another copy for herself because of the images she wanted to take away with her. As she says in her blog:
“the rustling gold paper, the attention to all the details which make up the heart’s core: the forms of the sun and the clouds. And I want to take with me the wonder, far from the shackles of the everyday.”
Levin is the winner of the 2006 Poetry in the Streets Prize from the city of Tel Aviv and the 2002 Ministry of Culture Award for Emerging Poets. She participated in the first Helicon poetry class in 1993. A graduate of the film and television department at Hunter College in New York, Levin worked for many years as a commercial writer for a large law firm in Israel. Her second collection of poetry, Mouth to Mouth, recently won the 2012 Acum prize from the Israeli Society for Authors and Musicians and is forthcoming this year. She resides in Givatayim with her husband, the poet Adi Assis.
Bibliography
Anna mistovevet leat (Revolving Anna), Ahuzat Bayit, Tel Aviv, 2007.
Me-pay le-ozen (Mouth to mouth), Keshev, Tel Aviv, 2013.
Links
In English
The Arty Semite/Jewish Forward features social poetry by Anat Levin
In Hebrew & Romanian
“Dad never read Nietzsche or Gottfried Benn . . .”
Romanian poet Claudiu Komartin & Anat Levin on YouTube
More readings from a joint Romanian-Israeli poetry workshop on May 8, 2012
In Hebrew
“The Letter” a short story by the poet
VIDEO: Why I write: the Israel Center for Libraries “Writers Reading” series
Complete bibliography
Lior Granot on Levin’s first book: “To hell with the money, I need a poem.”
Tamar Mishmar on Levin’s first book: Nostalgia for childhood and the desire for children
The poet’s blog
Sponsored by POETRY PLACE
