Uri Orlev

{{Short description|Polish-Israeli children's writer and translator (1931–2022)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Uri Orlev

| native_name = אורי אורלב

| image = אורי אורלב.JPG

| imagesize =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1931|02|24|df=y}}

| birth_place = Warsaw, Poland

| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|07|26|1931|02|24|df=y}}

| death_place = Israel

| occupation = Writer and translator

| language = Polish, Hebrew

| citizenship = Israeli, Polish

| education =

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| notableworks = The Island on Bird Street, Run, Boy, Run and The Lead Soldiers

| spouse =

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| children = 3, including his son Itamar Orlev

| relative(s) =

| awards = Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996)
Bialik Prize (2006)

| signature =

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| website =

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| native_name_lang = he

}}

Uri Orlev ({{Langx|he|אורי אורלב}}; 24 February 1931 – 26 July 2022) born Jerzy Henryk Orłowski, was a Polish-born Israeli children's author and translator. He received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1996 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature", the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works in 1972 and the Bialik Prize for literature in 2006.

Biography

Uri Orlev was born in 1931 in Warsaw, Poland, the son of a physician. During World War II, his father was taken captive by the Russians and he lived with his mother in the Warsaw Ghetto until she was killed by the Nazis. A relative hid him and his brother in the ghetto until he was caught by the Germans and deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1943. As a prisoner in Bergen-Belsen, he wrote and recited poetry which would later be published by Yad Vashem in 2005. He survived the Holocaust and was liberated by the British Army in 1945. He and his brother emigrated to Israel and were placed in kibbutz Ginegar. They were joined by their father in 1954. After finishing high school on the kibbutz, Orlev served in the Israel Defense Forces as an infantryman. Upon completing his regular military service, Orlev returned to the kibbutz and began working in the cowsheds. He continued to serve as a reservist and subsequently fought in the Suez Crisis, Six-Day War, and Yom Kippur War.

While living and working at Ginegar, Orlev began imagining short stories. He typically spent his weekends travelling to and from Haifa to watch movies there along with a German-born kibbutznik named Shlomo. During their bus rides, Orlev told Shlomo his stories, who urged him to write them down. After writing a rough draft, Orlev was granted permission by the kibbutz to spend a year with the family of Eliyahu Soloveitchik, a man he'd met in Bergen-Belsen who was living near Haifa. While there, he continued writing his manuscript, which would become his book The Lead Soldiers. He returned to Ginegar where he resumed his cowshed work and had the book published in 1956.

In 1968, Orlev and his family moved to the Yemin Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem. He began writing children's literature as a profession and ended up publishing over 30 books, which are often biographical, about his childhood during the Holocaust or his early years in Israel, and from an accessible perspective for children. His books have been translated from Hebrew into 36 languages. Among his more famous works are Run, Boy, Run, The Island on Bird Street and The Lead Soldiers.

He was also a translator of Polish literature into Hebrew, such as Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

Orlev appeared in the documentary film "Life is Strange" where he was interviewed about his books and life before World War II.

Orlev was twice married and had two sons, a daughter, and four grandchildren.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/CafeOleh/CafeTalk/Article.aspx?id=152458|title = Veterans: Uri Orlev: From Brussels to Atlit}} One of his sons, Itamar Orlev, is also a writer and made his debut with the novel Bandit in 2015.https://msur.es/2019/12/11/itamar-orlev-bandido/ MSur

He died on 26 July 2022.{{cite news |title=Uri Orlev, acclaimed author of children’s Holocaust books, dies at 91 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/acclaimed-author-of-childrens-holocaust-books-uri-orlev-dies-at-91/ |work=Times of Israel |date=26 July 2022}}

Awards and critical acclaim

The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Orlev received the writing award in 1996. The jury stated:{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}

{{Blockquote|Uri Orlev's experience as a Jewish boy in war-torn Poland is the background of this outstanding writer for children. Whether his stories are set in the Warsaw ghetto or his new country Israel, he never loses the perspective of the child he was. He writes at a high literary level, with integrity and humor, in a way which is never sentimental, exhibiting the skill to say much in few words. Uri Orlev shows how children can survive without bitterness in harsh and terrible times.}}

In 1972, he received the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works. In 2006, he was awarded the Bialik Prize for literature (jointly with Ruth Almog and Raquel Chalfi).{{Cite web| title = Ceremony for the award of 2006 Bialik Prize (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website| url = http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/Cityhall/News/Archive.asp?NID=837| access-date = 1 October 2009| archive-date = 13 July 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190713003138/https://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/Cityhall/News/Archive.asp%3FNID%3D837| url-status = dead}}

In the U.S., four books by Orlev have won the Batchelder Award in English-language translations by Hillel Halkin published by Houghton Mifflin. The annual American Library Association award recognizes the "children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States". The four American titles were The Island on Bird Street, The Man from the Other Side, The Lady with the Hat, and Run, Boy, Run, published from 1984 to 2003 by Houghton Mifflin, eventually by its Walter Lorraine Books imprint.

Published works

{{clarify |date=August 2013 |reason=which have been published in English-language editions? which did Orlev illustrate?}}

class="wikitable"
Book name	Hebrew name	Year	Publisher
colspan="4" align="center"\|Literature
Till Tomorrow \|dir="rtl"\|עד מחר \|1958 \|Am Oved
The Last Summer Vacation \|dir="rtl"\|חופשת הקיץ האחרונה \|1968 \|Daga
colspan="4" align="center"\|Books for children and young adults
The Lead Soldiers \|dir="rtl"\|חיילי עופרת \|1956 \|Sifriyat Po'alim
The Thing in the Dark \|dir="rtl"\|חיית החושך \|1976 \|Am Oved
It's Hard to Be a Lion \|dir="rtl"\|קשה להיות אריה \|1979 \|Am Oved
The Island on Bird Street \|dir="rtl"\|האי ברחוב הציפורים \|1981 \|Keter
The Wings Turn \|dir="rtl"\|תור הכנפיים \|1981 \|Massada
Big Brother \|dir="rtl"\|אח בוגר \|1983 \|Keter
The Dragon's Crown \|dir="rtl"\|כתר הדרקון \|1986 \|Keter
The Man from the Other Side \|dir="rtl"\|האיש מן הצד האחר \|1988 \|Keter
The Lady with the Hat \|dir="rtl"\|הגברת עם המגבעת \|1990 \|Keter
Lydia, Queen of Palestine \|dir="rtl"\|לידיה מלכת ארץ ישראל \|1991 \|Keter
A Mouthful of Meatball \|dir="rtl"\|קציצה מהצהריים \|1995 \|Keter
Last of Kin \|dir="rtl"\|רחוקי משפחה \|1996 \|Keter
The Sandgame \|dir="rtl"\|משחק החול \|1996 \|Keter
The Wandering Family \|dir="rtl"\|המשפחה הנודדת \|1997 \|Keter
The Song of the Whales \|dir="rtl"\|שירת הלוויתנים \|1997 \|Keter
Run, Boy, Run \|dir="rtl"\|רוץ, ילד, רוץ \|2001 \|Keter
Poems from Bergen-Belsen (1944) \|dir="rtl"\|שירים מברגן-בלזן \|2005 \|Yad VaShem
colspan="4" align="center"\|Picture books
The Big-Little Girl illustrated by Jacky Gleich \|dir="rtl"\|קטנה-גדולה \|1977 \|Keter
Noon Thoughts \|dir="rtl"\|מחשבות צהריים \|1978 \|Sifriyat Po'alim
A Hole in the Head \|dir="rtl"\|משגעת פילים \|1979 \|Keter
Siamina illustrated by David Gerstein \|dir="rtl"\|סיאמינה \|1979 \|Am Oved
The Lion Shirt / A Lion for Michael illustrated by Jacky Gleich \|dir="rtl"\|חולצת האריה \|1979 \|Massada
The Black Cloud \|dir="rtl"\|הענן השחור \|1979 \|Massada
How Mr. Cork Made the Brain Work \|dir="rtl"\|מעשה במנוח שהפעיל את המוח \|1979 \|Massada
The Good-Luck Pacifier illustrated by Jacky Gleich \|dir="rtl"\|מוצץ המזל \|1980 \|Am Oved
Granny Knits illustrated by Ora Eytan \|dir="rtl"\|סבתא סורגת \|1980 \|Massada
Mr. Mayor \|dir="rtl"\|ראש העיר תן לשיר \|1980 \|Massada
How to Be Four \|dir="rtl"\|מסע לגיל ארבע \|1985 \|Am Oved
On the Wrong Side of the Bed \|dir="rtl"\|על צד שמאל \|1985 \|Keter
Hairy Tuesday illustrated by Jacky Gleich \|dir="rtl"\|חפיפת ראש \|1988 \|Keter

class="wikitable"

Book name

Hebrew name

Year

Publisher

colspan="4" align="center"|Literature

Till Tomorrow

|dir="rtl"|עד מחר

|1958

|Am Oved

The Last Summer Vacation

|dir="rtl"|חופשת הקיץ האחרונה

|1968

|Daga

colspan="4" align="center"|Books for children and young adults

The Lead Soldiers

|dir="rtl"|חיילי עופרת

|1956

|Sifriyat Po'alim

The Thing in the Dark

|dir="rtl"|חיית החושך

|1976

|Am Oved

It's Hard to Be a Lion

|dir="rtl"|קשה להיות אריה

|1979

|Am Oved

The Island on Bird Street

|dir="rtl"|האי ברחוב הציפורים

|1981

Uri Orlev

Biography

Awards and critical acclaim

Published works

Awards

References

External links