Shimon Ballad

Background

Shimon Ballas was born on March 6, 1930, in Baghdad, Iraq.

Education

Shimon Ballad immigrated to Israel in 1951 without any knowledge of Hebrew. He spent four years in Paris, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy from the Sorbonne.

Career

Shimon Ballad began his literary career in Israel with the local Arab press. He is the author of a comprehensive study called "Arab Literature under the Shadow of War" (1978) and taught Arab Literature at the University of Haifa.

His first Hebrew novel, Ha-Ma'abarah ("The Transit Camp," 1964), is one of the first Hebrew novels to shed light on the harsh realities, tensions, and struggle for power in an immigrant settlement in Israel of the 1950s. This realistically narrated story was followed by novels and collections of stories. Among these are Ḥoref Aḥaron ("Last Winter," 1984), relating the experiences of a founding member of the Egyptian Communist Party who lives as an exile in Paris; Ve-Hu Aḥer ("And He is Different," 1991), depicting the fate of three protagonists in Iraq under a ruthless tyrant: the dictator's historian, a Jew who converted to Islam; a Communist. Among his other prose works are the novels Lo bi-Mekomah ("Not in Her Place," 1994) and Tel Aviv Mizraḥ ("Tel Aviv East," 2003). The collections of stories include among others Mul ha-Ḥomah ("Facing the Wall," 1969) and Otot Setav ("Signs of Autumn," 1992).

Shimon Ballas has been one of the first writers to present the reality of the Arab world and to remain true to his cultural heritage throughout his literary career.

Works

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• book

  • Outcast

    (Haroun Soussan, the narrator of Outcast and a Jewish conv...)

    2007
  • The Shoes of Tanboury

    (Tanboury finally saves enough money to buy new shoes but ...)

    1970
  • La littérature arabe et le conflit au proche-orient, 1948-1973

    (French Edition)

    2019

Connections

Shimon Ballad was married.