Hold on to the Sun

Michal Govrin was born in Tel Aviv, and is the daughter of an Israeli pioneer father and a mother who survived the Holocaust. Working as a novelist, poet, and theater director, Govrin has published eight books of poetry and fiction. Among her novels, The Name received the Kugel Literary Prize in Israel and was nominated for the Koret Jewish Book Award. Snapshots was awarded the 2003 Acum Prize for the Best Literary Achievement of the Year. Govrin was nominated for the Israel Prime Minister's Prize, the nation's highest honor, in 1998. Among the pioneers of Jewish experimental theatre, Govrin has directed award-winning performances in all the major theatres in Israel.Now residing in Jerusalem, Govrin teaches at the School of Visual Theater and is the academic chair of the Theater Department of Emunah College, both in Jerusalem. She has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, presents an annual lecture at The Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York, and is a former Writer in Residence and Aresty Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers University.Judith G. Miller is a professor and former chair of French at New York University. She has written extensively on French and Francophone theatre, including a recent book on theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine. She also translates plays from the French, most recently excerpts of plays by Hélène Cixous (with an introductory essay) for Columbia University Press.