Nava Macmel-Atir
Nava Macmel-Atir is an Israeli author, playwright and poet. She is best known for her books Adi's Jewel and Ot me-Avshalom.
Biography
Nava Macmel-Atir was born in Ramat Gan, Israel.Literary career
In her twenties Macmel-Atir wrote poetry for a children's column in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. On Yom Hazikaron 1990, "7 Days", the weekend supplement of the paper, published an interview with her about her poem "Micha Shuv", which she wrote in memory of Micha Granit, who fell in the Yom Kippur War,In 2000, Macmel-Atir published her first book, Ayelet Diving. One of her most highly acclaimed books was Adi's Jewel, based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor, which she later adapted into a play. The book was awarded a special commendation at the awards and won third place on the Israeli Ministry of Education National Children's Books Chart and the Israeli Book Publishers Association.
Her book King of the Mountain, published in 2004 in commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl, is also based on a true story of Macmel-Atir's former classmate who died in a helicopter accident. It was also later made into a play.
In 2005, Macmel-Atir again received the Ze'ev Prize, for her book Right of Passage. Adi's Jewel, The Final Delay, King of the Mountain, and Right of Passage all achieved high rankings on the Israeli Ministry of Education national children's book chart and were adapted into theatre productions.
Until 2005, for more than a decade, Macmel-Atir taught literature at Ramat Gan's Blich High School. She now hosts youth writing workshops at Tel Aviv's Beit Ariela Library.
Her book The Girl From the Opposite Balcony was published in 2006 and adapted into a play in which Macmel-Atir played one of the parts.
Her second adult novel, Ot me-Avshalom was published in 2009 by Yediot Books and became a bestseller, for which Macmel-Atir received the Golden Book Prize for selling 20,000 copies in just three months after its release. Half a year after its publication, Ot me-Avshalom won the Platinum Book Prize from the Book Publishers Association of Israel for selling 40,000 copies. Macmel-Atir was voted one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in 2010 by Lady Globes magazine. In June 2015, Ot me-Avshalom won the Diamond Book Prize for selling 100,000 copies.