David Grossman

David Grossman
David Grossman (2015)
Born	(1954-01-25) January 25, 1954 (age 63) Jerusalem, Israel
Occupation	Writer
Citizenship	Israeli
Alma mater	The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Notable awards	2015 St. Louis Literary Award 2011 JQ Wingate Prize 2010 Peace Prize of the  German Book Trade 2008 Geschwister-Scholl-Preis 2007 Ischia International  Journalism Award 2007 Emet Prize 2004 Bialik Prize 2004 JQ Wingate Prize 2001 Sapir Prize 1993 Bernstein Prize 1985 Bernstein Prize
Spouse	Michal Grossman
Children	3

David Grossman (Hebrew: דויד גרוסמן‎‎; born January 25, 1954) is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and have won numerous prizes.

He addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his 2008 novel, To the End of the Land. Since that book's publication he has written a children's book, an opera for children and several poems. His most recent book, Falling Out of Time, deals with the grief of parents in the aftermath of their children's death.

Grossman was born in Jerusalem. He is the elder of two brothers.

His mother, Michaella, was born in Mandate Palestine; his father, Yitzhak, emigrated from Poland with his widowed mother at the age of nine. His mother's family was Zionist and poor, his grandfather having paved roads in the Galilee and supplementing his income by buying and selling rugs. His maternal grandmother was a manicurist. His paternal grandmother left Poland after being harassed by police, never before having left the region where she'd been born. Along with her son and daughter, she traveled to Palestine where she became a cleaner in wealthy neighbourhoods.

Grossman's father was a bus driver, then a librarian, and it was through him that David – "a reading child" – was able to build up an interest in literature, which would later become his career. Grossman recalled, "He gave me many things, but what he mostly gave me was Sholem Aleichem." Aleichem, who was born in Ukraine, is one of the greatest writers in Yiddish, though he is now best known as the man whose stories were the inspiration for Fiddler on the Roof. At age 9, Grossman won a national competition on knowledge of the works of Sholem Aleichem, and subsequently worked as a child actor for the national radio. He continued working for Israel Broadcasting for nearly 25 years.

In 1971, Grossman began his national service working in military intelligence. Although he was in the army when the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973, he saw no action.