Nava Semel (September 15, 1954 – December 2, 2017) was an Israeli author, playwright, screenwriter and translator. Her short story collection Kova Zekhukhit (Hat of Glass) was the first work of fiction published in Israel to address the topic of the "Second Generation"—children of Holocaust survivors.

Biography

Nava Artzi (later Semel) was born in Jaffa, the daughter of Yitzhak Artzi, a politician and member of the Knesset, and Mimi (Margalit), a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp and Kleineshenau. Her maternal grandmother was the sister of Rabbi Meir Shapiro. She was the younger sister of Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi. She earned an MA in art history from Tel Aviv University. Semel was married to Noam Semel, Director General of the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv, and mother of three children. She lived in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Literary career

Semel published 16 books, plays, opera libretti, poetry and screenplays. She also wrote plays and translated for the Hebrew stage. Her acclaimed novel And the Rat Laughed was adapted into an opera libretto in 2005. Her work focuses on the "second generation" (children of Holocaust survivors) in Israel. Her characters are native born Israelis, who confront their identity issues and deal with the scars of the painful past.

Public activism

Semel was a member of the Board of Directors of Massuah, the Institute for Holocaust Studies at Kibbutz Tel Yitzhak, and for many years was a member of the Board of Governors of Yad Vashem. She was also on the Board of Directors of the "New Foundation for Television and Cinema".

Awards and recognition

She received the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works in 1996, "The Women Writers of the Mediterranean Award" in France 1994, and "Women of the Year in Literature of the City of Tel Aviv" 2006.

Published works

Fiction

Stage and screen