Benny Ziffer is an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i author and journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

.

Life and career

Ziffer was born in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

. His parents, Heinz and Nira (née Farhi), immigrated to Israel from Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 in 1949. Ziffer studied French literature and political science. He is married to Irit, and they have three children. Ziffer holds two nationalities: Israeli and Turkish.

In 1988, Ziffer was appointed literary editor of Haaretz

Haaretz

Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...

daily newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

.
Ziffer is the author of three novels. He has also translated French novels and poetry into Hebrew. Ziffer writes a political-cultural column in Haaretz that combines television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 reviews with reflections on contemporary Israeli life.

Awards

In 2010, Ziffer was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to New Media prize by the International Council for Press and Broadcasting

International Council for Press and Broadcasting

The council is a subsidiary body of the Next Century Foundation, an organisation which deals primarily with conflict resolution issues and holds an annual International Media Awards in London...

at the International Media Awards in London

Published works

• A Bird Nests at Home (Tsipor Mekanenet Ba-bait) (1978) - poetry
• Turkish March (Hebrew for 'Rondo alla Turka')(1995)
• Ziffer and his Kind (1999)
• The Literary Editor's Progress (2005)