Israeli author and Oscar winner Etgar Keret will visit Syracuse University on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to deliver a lecture and reading at 7 p.m. in the Hillel Lender Auditorium, 102 Walnut Place.
Keret is regarded as one of the pre-eminent writers to emerge from Israel in recent years. He is the author of short story books, as well as screenplays. He has been published in 22 languages and has won several awards, including the Israeli Ministry of Culture’s Cinema Prize. More than 40 short movies have been based on Keret’s stories, one of which won an American MTV Award in 1998.
Books by Keret include the bestselling “The Nimrod Flipout” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006) and his most recent, “The Girl on the Fridge” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). “The Girl on the Fridge” is Keret’s collection of past stories that made him Israel’s bestselling and most celebrated young writer.
Keret teaches at Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel, and he delivers lectures and readings throughout the United States. He has been called the voice of young Israel; many of his stories look lightheartedly at modern Israeli life.
“My prime motivation to write stories is that I want to read them. I would be very happy if somebody else had done it, but they’re all lazy … so I have to write it all by myself,” says Keret jokingly.
George Saunders, author of several short story collections and a professor of English in The College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University, calls Keret a master of the short story. “I find Etgar and his writing completely unique and completely charming,” says Saunders.
Keret is speaking as part of the annual B. G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic Studies. Other scholars and writers, such as Aharon Appelfeld and Robert Alter, have delivered the lecture, which was inaugurated in 1962.
Keret’s visit is cosponsored by the B. G. Rudolph Lecture in Judaic Studies, the Judaic Studies Program, SU Hillel and the Creative Writing Program. The lecture, reading and reception to follow are free and open to the public.
Horace Campbell, professor of political science and African American Studies in the Maxwell School, was quoted by The LA Times for the article “Who killed Haiti’s president? Plot thickens as Moise’s guards come under scrutiny” as well as in France…
Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science in the Maxwell School, was interviewed by the Wall St. Journal for the article “Democrats Focus on Turning Tax Talk Into Action.” Faricy discussed the possibility of new tax bills, saying, “A lot…
Dana Spiotta, associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, was featured in The New York Times for the article “Dana Spiotta Loves Coming Across Jokes in Really Old Books.” Spiotta, whose new novel, Wayward, came out…
Jonathan Martinis, senior director for law and policy at the Burton Blatt Institute was interviewed for The New Yorker article “Britney Spears’s Conservatorship Nightmare.” Martinis provides context for the lack of rights given to those in conservatorships, saying, “The rights…
Roy Gutterman, associate professor of magazine, news and digital journalism in the Newhouse School and director of the Tully Center for Free Speech, was quoted by Yahoo News for the story “Trump is using an unusual legal argument in his…
If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.
