Biography

Dan Tsalka was born in 1936 in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. In World War II his family fled to the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, where they lived in Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

 and then Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. At the close of the war, when he was ten, he returned with his family to Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, to the city of Wrocław. He studied humanities at the city's university, engaging in boxing, an activity that appeared later in the novel Gloves.

In 1957 he immigrated to Israel

Israel

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

 in the "Gomułka Aliyah

Aliyah

Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

". He changed his name from Mietek to Dan, a name his sister suggested during their stay in a transit camp (maabara) in Yavne

Yavne

Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 33,000.-History:...

. After studying Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 at Hazor kibbutz, he enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

 and served in the armored corps. After his discharge he studied philosophy and history at Tel-Aviv University. He continued his studies in France, also residing for a time in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Italy.

In 1967 he published his first novel Dr. Barkel. He was the editor of Masa, the literary supplement of the newspaper Lemerkhav, and engaged in additional editing and translation.

In 2000 he made a trip to Morocco with a friend, as he described in the book Morocco: Travel Notes.

He lived 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...

 with his wife Aviva. He died on June 15, 2005 at the age of 69 from cancer.

Awards

He won many Israeli literature awards, including:

• In 1976, the Brenner Prize
  Brenner Prize
  The Brenner Prize is an Israeli literary prize awarded annually by the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel and the Haft Family Foundation.It was founded in the name of the author Yosef Haim Brenner and was first awarded in 1945....
  
  ;
• In 1972, 1991 and 1997, the Hayetzira Prize;
• In 1992, the Alterman Prize for the novel A Thousand Hearts;
• In 1994, the ACUM Prize for Clouds and Loose Pages Bound
• In 2000, the ACUM Prize for lifetime achievement;
• In 2004, the Sapir Prize
  Sapir Prize
  The Sapir Prize for Literature of Israel is a prestigious annual literary award presented for a work of fine literature. The prize is awarded by Mifal Hapayis , and is a part of the organization's cultural initiatives...
  
   for Tsalka's ABC.

Selected works

• Dr. Barkel (1967)
• Philip Arbes (1977)
• The Third Voyage of the Aldebaran [Ha-Masa Shel Ha-Aldebaran] (1979)—science fiction for youth.
• Gloves [Kfafot] (1982)
• A Thousand Hearts [Elef Levavot] (1991)
• On the Road to Aleppo: A Book of Stories (1999): selected stories in English translation, published in Ra'annana by Even Hoshen.
• The War Between the Children of the Earth and the Children of the Pit [Milhemet Bnei Eretz Bivnei Shahat] (1993): science fiction for youth.
• Clouds [Ananim] (1994)
• Loose Pages Bound [Dappim Mehudakim Be-Atav] (1993): essays.
• Morocco: Travel Notes [Marocco: Yoman Masa] (2001)
• Under the Sign of the Lotus [Be-Siman Ha-Lotus] (2002)
• Tsalka's ABC [Sefer Ha-Alef-Bet] (2003): autobiographical notes—a personal lexicon, arranged in alphabetical order, of events in the life of the author.