David Shahar, a 55-year-old Israeli author, was awarded here today the Medicis Prize for Foreign Literature, one of France’s best known literary awards. The jury singled out one of his books, “The Day of the Countess,” which has appeared in French translation, to pay tribute to the literary quality and poetic style of the Jerusalem-born writer.
“The Day of the Countess” is a story of a group of Jews, Christians and Moslems, all former friends, caught in the turmoil of the Arab riots or 1936 in Jerusalem. The story spans a week in the lives of the group torn apart by the events. Shahar, who teaches literature at the Hebrew University, has published 15 books, five of which have appeared in English and French translations.
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