Background
David Avidan was born on February 21, 1934, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
painter playwright writer author poet
David Avidan was born on February 21, 1934, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
David Avidan studied Literature and Philosophy while briefly studying at Hebrew University.
David Avidan wrote 20 published books of Hebrew poetry. He wrote mostly in Hebrew and was an avant-garde artist throughout his life. He translated many of his own poems into English and received several awards both as a poet and as a translator.
David Avidan was not popular with most critics or the general public throughout his life, often criticized as being egocentric, chauvinistic, and technocratic.
His first book, Lipless Faucets (1954), was attacked by nearly all poetry critics. The first favorable review was by Gabriel Moked, editor of the literary quarterly Akhshav, who later became one of Avidan"s closest friends.
By the early 1990s, David Avidan could scarcely make a living, and his mental condition had deteriorated. David Avidan died in Tel Aviv, the city which had played a central role in his life, and was, in many ways, the center of his creation. Since his death, Avidan"s reputation has been on the rise both in literary circles and in the popular imagination, positioning him as one of the core poets of the Israeli canon.