Shimon Adaf’s poem ‘Sderot’ begins:

It took me twenty years to love
this hole in the middle of nowhere.
The cotton buds dispersed in a white flame
and the wind meddled in the cypresses…

Born in Sderot, the ‘bomb shelter capital of the world,’ to parents of Moroccan origin, Shimon Adaf has written five novels and three collections of poetry, which have received numerous national prizes. He lectures on Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and is head of the Hebrew-language creative writing program there.

Host Marcela Sulak reads from Adaf’s ‘Ars Poetica,’ which deals with his Moroccan origins, and ‘Evening Prayer,’ which is rooted in the memory of his religious upbringing.

Adaf also sings, writes songs, and plays music with the band Ha’Atzulah – we hear some of his work during the podcast.

Text:

Kaleidoscope: Three Poets from Israel. Mosaic Press, 2014.

Music:

Ars Poetica – lyrics by Shimon Adaf, music by Shimon Adaf, David Gross, and Shimon Tal.
Evening Prayer- lyrics by Shimon Adaf, music by Shimon Adaf, David Gross, and Shimon Tal.
Tagidi shetov [Say It’s Good] – lyrics by Shimon Adaf, music by Knesiyat HaSekhel

Producer: Laragh Widdess
Technical producers: Lior Peleg and Adam Sher