A few weeks ago, Erez Biton was awarded the Israel Prize for literature, becoming the first Mizrahi Jew to receive the prize. Of Moroccan descent, he was born in Algeria in 1942 and arrived in Israel in 1948 via France.

After a joint reading with Yehuda Amichai in Arad, a town bordering the Negev and Judean Deserts, the two poets traveled back to Jerusalem together. Biton asked Amichai to describe for him the essence of the desert as seen along the road. In response, Amichai held Bitton’s hand for a few moments, saying nothing. Then Biton said: “Now I understand.”

Host Marcela Sulak reads the short poem Biton wrote about this experience, “To Say Desert.” And she explains how his work is connected to his blindness, emphasizing the unity between people and their landscape.

Texts:

Thanks to Mitch Ginsberg and his The Times of Israel article.

Poems “To Say Desert,” “The Dog and His Master,” and “The Wail of Women” translated by Tzippi Keller.

Further reading: The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, Ed. Burnshaw, Carmi, et. al.

Music:

The Andalusian Orchestra – Moroccan Wedding (lyrics by Erez Biton)

Zohra Al-Fassia – Ayta Bidâwiyya

Producer: Laragh Widdess
Technical producer: Alex Benish