Yehoshua Kenaz - Biography

Biography

Glass was born in Petah Tikva, in the British Mandate of Palestine, in 1937. During the Second World War, his father worked for the British Army, and for a while the family moved to Haifa. He learned to play the violin. His brother Hilik was born when he was thirteen. He was drafted to the Israel Defense Forces and was sent to a basic training camp for physically unfit soldiers. He then served in the Israeli Intelligence Corps. He changed his last name to Kenaz, after Othniel Ben Kenaz, a bibilical name with a similar sound.

He studied Philosophy and Romance languages at the Hebrew University, and French literature at the Sorbonne. He wrote his first story in Paris and sent it to Aharon Amir's Keshet journal under the name of Avi Otniel (literally "father of Othniel"). He became famous in Israel in 1986 when his novel Infiltration became a best seller.

He has translated many French classics into Hebrew, and has worked on the editorial staff of the Ha'aretz newspaper. He was awarded the Alterman Prize in 1991, the Newman Prize in 1992, the Agnon Prize (1993), the Acum Prize (1994) and the Bialik Prize (1995). In 2007, Infiltration was named one of the ten most important books in Israeli history. Four of his novels have been adapted to film: Ahare Hahagim, directed by Amnon Rubinstein, in 1994; Alila (from the novel Returning Lost Lives, directed by Amos Gitai, in 2003; On the Way to the Cats, directed by Jorge Gurvich in 2009; and most recently, Infiltration, directed by Dover Koshashvili, released to critical acclaim at the Jerusalem Film Festival 2010.

Kenaz has said he is not a Zionist because he does not believe a Jewish state would solve the problem of antisemitism. He supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because he wants the Hebrew language and culture to be hegemonic and more cultivated in Israel.