Judith Katzir

Judith Katzir (; born 1963) is an Israeli writer of novels, short stories, and children's books in Hebrew. Her works have been translated into multiple languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Estonian, German, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, and Spanish.

Katzir is known for her rich language, lyrical yet matter-of-fact tone, and distinct narrative style, often featuring a female second-person narrator. Her writing employs varied sentence structures, using both long and short sentences to reflect the rhythm of events. Critics have identified her as one of the first Israeli women novelists to break into what had been, until the 1980s, a male-dominated field.

Career Judith Katzir was born in 1963 in Haifa, a city whose landscapes and landmarks feature prominently in her writing. For example, her short story, "Disneyel", features the Carmel ridge, Balfour and Herzl Streets, and the blue waters of the Mediterranean sea along Haifa's coastline. Her parents were both lawyers and she is the eldest of three children.

Katzir studied literature and cinema at Tel Aviv University, and began publishing her stories in Israeli journals in the 1980s. She published her first book, Sogrim et ha-Yam, a collection of four novellas, in 1990; this appeared in English as Closing the Sea in 1992. The book was a best-seller "Schlaffstunde" has also been adapted into a one-person theater play, as well as a film entitled Family Secrets. Katzir's first novel was Le-Matisse Yesh et ha-Shemesh be-Beten ("Matisse Has the Sun in His Belly"). Katzir's most recent novel, Tzilla, appeared in 2013.

Philosophy of reading Katzir has affirmed the importance of novels in a world saturated with digital media. "In our lives, we make intimate acquaintance with only a few people: close relatives, family, a few friends. Literature gives us the opportunity to meet many more souls, characters, people we can identify with." She added that, "In a world that generates a lot of noise, books are oases of peace and quiet."

Personal life Katzir and her husband Moshe Levinson, a film producer, have two daughters. They reside in Tel Aviv.