Hagar Yanai: Difference between revisions

| name = Hagar Yanai<br />הגר ינאי

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1972}}

| known_for = Prime Minister's Award Winner, Geffen Award, Devorah Omer Award

'''Hagar Yanai''' ({{lang-he|הגר ינאי}}; born 1972) is an [[Israel]]iIsraeli author. andShe is the recipient of the 2008 Prime Minister's Award for Israeli Authors.,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3641994,00.html |script-title=he:הוכרזו הזוכים בפרסי היצירה לתשס"ט |trans-title=The winners of the 2008 Prime Minister Award have been announced |publisherwork=[[Ynet]] |date=21 December 2008 |language=Hebrew |accessdate=21 August 2014}}</ref> and of the Devora Omer Award for Work of Literature for Middle Grade and Young Adults.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.gov.il/he/Departments/news/2019prize_noa_sorek |script-title=he:רשימת הזוכים בפרס שרת התרבות והספורט בתחומי היצירה הספרותית לשנת תשע"ט |trans-title=The winners of the 2019 Minister of Culture and Sports Award after Devora Omer have been announced |work=gov.il |date=29 December 2019 |language=Hebrew |accessdate=28 March 2021}}</ref> She is also a twothree-time recipient of the [[Geffen Award]] for Best Original Hebrew Fantasy.<ref>{{cite news |author=Avner Shapira |url=http://www.mouse.co.il/CM.articles_item,1045,209,28863,.aspx |script-title=he:הגר ינאי זכתה בפרס גפן לספרי פנטסיה |trans-title=Hagar Yanai won the Geffen Award for Fantasy books |publisher=Akbar Hahyir |date=22 October 2008 |language=Hebrew |accessdate=21 August 2014}}</ref>

Hagar Yanai was born in [[Kibbutz]] [[Barkai]]. Following her army service, she studied [[Anthroposophy]] for two years at Kibbutz [[Harduf]] and then traveled to [[Japan]] where she studied for a year with a [[Zen master]] in [[Tokyo]], and worked as a hostess in night clubs. She spent some time in a [[Zen]] [[monastery]] in [[Kyosho]]. Her first book, ''A Woman in Light'', was inspired by her affair with the head of the monastery.<ref>{{cite news |author=Gon Ben Ari |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3519624,00.html |title=Hocus Pocus |language=he |publisherwork=[[Ynet]] |date=16 March 2008 |accessdate=21 August 2014}}</ref> Yanai received her [[Bachelorbachelor's degree]] in [[creative writing]] and [[screenwriting]] from Camera Obscura School of Art, and her [[Mastermaster's degree]] in [[literature]] from [[Ben-Gurion University of the Negev]].

Yanai worked as a [[journalist]] for ''Hayim Aherim'' (A Different Life) magazine, and the weekend supplement of Hebrew daily ''[[Haaretz]]''. She was also a book critic for the Hebrew daily ''[[Globes (newspaper)|Globes]]'', and the [[Literary criticism|literary]] and [[Film criticism|film critic]] for Israeli Television [[Channel 2 (Israel)|Channel Two]]. Today, she works as a literary editor, teaches creative writing, and is a book critic for the [[Israel Army Radio|IDF radio station]] and Israel Television [[Channel 1 (Israel)|Channel One]].<ref>[http://library.osu.edu/sites/users/galron.1/00848 Hagar Yanai – From the New Hebrew Literature Lexicon] (Hebrew) {{webarchiveWebarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909091321/http://library.osu.edu/sites/users/galron.1/00848 |date=2009-09-09 }} (Hebrew) <!-- redirects to http://library.osu.edu/projects/hebrew-lexicon/00848/ 404--></ref>

Yanai's second book, ''Alex's Eternity Machine'', describes the journey of a rebellious female soldier in the [[Golan Heights]]. The soldier, Duba, runs away from a young and aggressive officer who wants to rehabilitate her, and looks for Alex, a young physics genius, with whom she fell in love in her youth, and who is trying to invent the [[Perpetual motion|Perpetuum Mobile]]. The book was nominated for the 2006 [[Sapir Prize]] for Literature.<ref>{{cite web |author=Eli Eshed |authorlink=Eli Eshed |url=http://no666.wordpress.com/2005/02/18/%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%94%D7%92%D7%A8-%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%90%D7%99/ |script-title=he:התיאוריה הסופית של הגר ינאי |trans-title=Hagar Yanai's Final Theory |publisher=Eli Eshed's blog in "Reshimot" site |date=18 February 2005 |language=Hebrew |accessdate=21 August 2014}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3039030,00.html |script-title=he:יתור הוא כוח |language=he |trans-title=Yielding is Power |author=Yoram Kaniuk |authorlink=Yoram Kaniuk |publisherwork=[[Ynet]] |date=30 January 2005 |accessdate=21 August 2014}}</ref>

Yanai's third book, ''The Leviathan of Babylon'', is the first of a [[Fantasy literature|fantasy]] [[trilogy]]. She wrote the book in a groundbreaking effort to create a widespread audience in the Israeli literary scene for the fantasy genre - her favorite. The book follows the adventures of Jonathan Margolis and his sister Ella, who enter a parallel world, the Empire of [[Babylon]], ruled by the Guild of Hashdarpans – brutal physician-priests who fear the rise of the Leviathan, son of the Abyss. The book draws inspiration from [[Jewish mythology|Jewish]], [[Babylonian mythology|Babylonian]] and [[Middle Eastern mythology (disambiguation)|Middle-Eastern]] [[mythology]]. The Leviathan of Babylon was awarded the 2007 [[Geffen Award]] for Best Original Hebrew Fantasy.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3264618,00.html |script-title=he:נפתולי בבל |language=he |trans-title=Babylon Meandering |author=Gili Bar-Hillel |authorlink=Gili Bar-Hillel |publisherwork=[[Ynet]] |date=26 June 2006 |accessdate=21 August 2014}}</ref>

Yanai's fourth book and the second in ''The Leviathan of Babylon trilogy'', ''The Water Between the Worlds'', was published in February 2008. It describes the beginning of the great battle for the Empire of Babylon. The four [[protagonists]] from the first book, Jonathan and Ella Margolis, Hillel Ben-Shahar, and Princess Nin-Urmuz, are faced with even more difficult challenges and ordeals. The Water BetwixtBetween the Worlds was awarded the 2008 Geffen Award for Best Original Hebrew Fantasy. Yanai was also awarded the 2008 Prime Minister's Award for Israeli Authors.<ref>{{cite news |author=Shahar Ilan |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/a-leviathan-at-azrieli-1.250773 |title=A leviathan at Azrieli |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] ''Books Supplement'' |date=August 2008 |accessdate=21 August 2014}}</ref>

* ''The Leviathan of Babylon'', (Fantasy, Leviathan Trilogy I), Jerusalem, Keter, 2006

* ''The Water BetwixtBetween the Worlds'', (Fantasy, Leviathan Trilogy II), Jerusalem, Keter, 2008

* [http://www.tehom.co.il/index.html The Leviathan of Babylon Website] {{hein iconlang|he}}

* [http://www.sf-f.org.il/story_879 Excerpt from The Leviathan of Babylon] {{hein iconlang|he}}

* {{cite news |url=http://bidur.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=376581&TypeID=1&sid=123 |script-title=he:"הלוויתן מבבל" נושא את אג'נדת אהבת המלנכוליה בעולם פנטסטי מענג |language=he |trans-title=The Leviathan of Babylon conveys the agenda of the love of melancholy in a pleasurable world of fantasy |author=Lilach Wallach |publisher=Nana 10 |date=31 May 2006 |access-date=5 July 2009 |archive-date=12 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812105148/http://bidur.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=376581&TypeID=1&sid=123 |url-status=dead }}

* {{cite news |author=Hagar Yanai |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3467845,00.html |script-title=he:מי אמר שאין פה פנטזיה? |language=he |trans-title=Who says there is no fantasy mouthhere? |publisherwork=[[Ynet]] |date=6 November 2007}} Hagar Yanai recommends five fantasy books that are Israeli in essence.

* {{cite news |author=Amichai Shalev |url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3618704,00.html |title=החדר שבין העולמות |trans-title=The Room Between the Worlds |publisherwork=[[Ynet]] |date=7 November 2008}}

[[Category:JerksWomen science fiction and fantasy writers]]