Israeli essayist, playwright and novelist A.B. Yehoshua passed away in Tel Aviv at the age of 85, leaving behind a literary legacy.
Yehoshua, 85, had been suffering from cancer for some time and had also grown melancholy following the death of his wife, Rivka who passed away five years ago.
Yehoshua began publishing fiction in the 1950s and wrote numerous novels, short stories, essays, children’s stories and plays, nearly all of which proved to be extremely popular both in Israel and around the world. He was one of the most widely read of Israeli writers, and his works were translated into 28 languages.
Among his books were The Return from, Mr. Manim The Human Resources Supervisor’s Mission, Five Seas, The Lover, Mr. Mani, The Tunnel, A Journey to the End, A Late Divorce, The Only Daughter, Five Seasons and A Woman in Jerusalem.
An Israel Prize laureate, Yehoshua was the recipient of numerous other awards, including the ACUM Prize, the Prime Minister’s Prize for Hebrew Literature, the Brenner Prize, the Alterman Prize, the Bialik Prize and the National Jewish Book Award among others
In eulogizing Yehoshua, President Isaac Herzog said how sad and symbolic it was that Yehoshua, one of the giants of Israeli literature, should go to his final resting place during Israel Book Week.
Yehoshua is survived by his three children and several grandchildren. He will be buried at Kibbutz Ein Carmel, south of Haifa, at 5 p.m. 15 June 2022.
May his memory be a blessing.
