In Conversation with Writer Assaf Gavron (Montreal)

With a string of international literary awards and bestselling novels to his credit, Assaf Gavron has earned his place as a foremost Israeli author under 50. In his most recent successes The Hilltop and Tel Aviv Noir, Gavron portrays an unvarnished, authentic Israeli society.

 “His clear and honest writing blasts right through the clichés and the politically correct surface to touch the chaotic, ambiguous core of the Israeli identity.” (Etgar Keret).

Gavron will be in conversation with Joseph Rosen. 

Assaf Gavron is an acclaimed Israeli writer who has published five novels: Ice, Moving, Almost Dead, Hydromania and The Hilltop; a collection of short stories, Sex in the Cemetery; and a non-fiction collection of Jerusalem falafel-joint reviews, Eating Standing Up.  His fiction has been adapted for the stage in Israel’s national theater, and optioned for movies. He is the recipient of several awards including the Bernstein Prize for The Hilltop, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Creative Award for Authors, and the Prix Courrier International in France for Almost Dead. Gavron's latest novel, The Hilltop, was published by Scribner in the US in October 2014.

Joseph Rosen is a writer and professor based in Montreal’s bagel district. His writing has been published by The Walrus, Maisonneuve, n+1, The Montreal Gazette, Shtetl Montreal and others. Rosen has lectured on issues related to Israel & Palestine in Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Toronto. His essay The Israel Taboo addresses why it is so difficult to talk about Israel in Canada and was nominated for best essay in the Canadian magazine awards 2014. Since then, Rosen has hosted a series of public discussions about Israeli-Palestine in different forums. He teaches at Dawson College.