Meir Shalev is a bestselling Israeli author, and his books include A Pigeon and a Boy, The Loves of Judith (Four Meals), Fontanelle, Alone In the Desert, But A Few Days, and Esau. Russian Romance (The Blue Mountain) is one of the top five bestsellers in Israeli history and was reprinted in 2011. Shalev’s writing is often compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez for its ability to “create worlds inhabited by the richness of invention and obsessiveness of dreams” (New York Times Book Review). He has written twelve children’s books, as well as four collections of essays.

Beginnings: Reflections on the Bible’s Intriguing Firsts is a book of essays about the Bible (Doubleday, 2011). With a secular point of view, Shalev follows the heroes and heroines of the Old Testament, finding the first love ever mentioned in the text, the first kiss, first laugh, and the first hate. Surprising the reader at every turn, Shalev finds who dreamt the first dream, who was the first king, the first prophet, and first spy ever mentioned. Beginnings is Shalev’s second book about the Bible. His previous book, The Bible Now (Tanach Achshav), was published in 1985. In 2011 he published a family memoir, My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner.

Meir Shalev is also a columnist with the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot and has given lectures on literature and the Hebrew language at Judaic programs nationwide.

Shalev is the recipient of the Juliet Club Prize (Italy); The Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel); The Chiavari (Italy); The Entholomogical Prize (Israel); The Wizo Prize in France, Israel, and Italy; and The Brenner Prize of 2006—the highest Israeli literary recognition—for his novel A Pigeon and a Boy (Random House, 2007). He studied Psychology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and produced and hosted several radio and television programs.

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