JERUSALEM (JTA) — Etgar Keret is the winner of the Sapir Prize, Israel’s most prestigious literary award.
The award for 2018, presented on Tuesday, is for Keret’s collection of 24 short stories titled “A Glitch at the Edge of the Galaxy.”
Keret said he was “very surprised,” according to a statement from Ben-Gurion University, where he is a lecturer.
“It’s the happiest thing in the world, but like love or gifts, it’s not something you can strive for. It just happens,” he also said, according to the statement.
The prize includes a more than $40,000 cash prize and support for the book’s translation into two languages: Arabic and a language of the author’s choice.
Keret, who won the 2016 Charles Bronfman Prize for humanitarians under 50, has written several collections of short stories, as well as movie scripts, poetry, plays and comics.
His work has been translated into English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Norwegian and Swedish.
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