Erez Biton

Erez Biton (; born 1942 in Oran, Algeria) is an Algerian-born Israeli poet of Moroccan descent. He is the 2015 recipient of the Israel Prize for Hebrew Literature and Poetry, among other literary awards.

Biography Erez Biton was born in Oran in a Moroccan Jewish family. His family fled Algeria in 1948, and made aliyah to Israel. He grew up in Lod. Biton is married to Rachel Calahorra Biton and the couple have two children.

Career Following his studies, Biton worked as a social worker in Ashkelon for seven years and as a psychologist in an outlying town. He worked as a journalist and published a weekly column in the Israeli mainstream daily Maariv.

Published works

Poetry Mincha Maroka'it "Moroccan Gift," Eked, 1976 Sefer Hana'na "The Book of Mint," Eked, 1979 Tsipor bein Yabashot "Intercontinental Bird", 1990 Timbisert, Tsipor Maroka'it , "Timbisert, a Moroccan Bird", Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2009 Nofim Khavushei Einayim "Blindfolded Landscapes", Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2013 Bet Hapsanterim (Hebrew: בית הפסנתרים) "The House of Pianos", Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2015

Drama Sulika "Soulika", Snir, 2005

Awards and recognition (2015) Biton was awarded the Israel Prize for Literature, the first Mizrahi Jew to receive it. The prize committee described his poems as being "the epitome of courageous dealings, sensitive and deep with a wide range of personal and collective experiences centered around the pain of migration, planting roots in the country, and the reestablishment of the Mizrahi identity as an integral part of the overall Israeli portrait." (2014) Bialik Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2014) The Yehuda Amichai Prize (1988) Prime Minister's Prize (1982) Miriam Talpir Prize