Expressive arts therapist Gili Haimovich is a bilingual Hebrew-English poet. As a therapist and facilitator, Haimovich incorporates writing with other arts modalities in her private practice, as well as in her work in social services agencies such as mental health centers and and hostels. The author of six books of poetry in Hebrew and one selection originally written in English, she divides her time between Israel, where she was born, and Toronto, Canada.
According to veteran critic Menachem Benn, Haimovich is ‘one of the most important young poets writing in Hebrew’, describing her work as ‘sharp, direct, sexual and outspoken’.
In the interview ‘I lose control on the page’, included with this profile and translated by Poetry International's Israel editor Lisa Katz, Haaretz contributor Ilan Berkowitz locates Haimovich as laying everything bare: ‘bodily weakness, frank desires, relationships (naming names)’ and asks her whether or not she suffers unease because of this. Haimovich responds: ‘I try to be honest, to write about what needs to be [written about]. Writing is an opportunity not to repress and I try to take advantage of this opportunity . . . I don’t want to fall asleep on my watch’.
Bibliography
Poetry
In Hebrew
Devek Maga (Living on a blank page), Gvanim, Tel Aviv, 2001
Mishkefet kemmo osher (Reflected like joy), Gvanim, Tel Aviv, 2002
Esh kokhotay (My forces’ fire), Even Hoshen, Raanana, 2007
Onat hamokh (Lint season), Pardes, Haifa, 2011
Tinoket (Girl Baby), Emda, Tel Aviv, 2014
In English
Living on a blank page, Ice Flow Press, Toronto, 2008.
Video art
‘My wailing wall’
‘Fulfilled lake’
Links
The poet’s bilingual Hebrew-English website
In English
Poems published in Asymptote
Poems published in The Bakery
In French
Poems published in Recours au Poème
In Hebrew
Poems from Girl Baby, with comments by critic Ron Yagil in nrg
Six poems in nrg
Five poems in Hahotem
Interview with Haaretz
Entry in the Ohio State University Lexicon of Contemporary Hebrew Literature
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