Megged, Aharon

(1920- )

   Prominent Hebrew author. He was born in Poland and brought to Palestine at the age of six, where he was raised in Ra'anana and educated at the Herzliya High School. He joined the pioneer youth movement when he finished high school, training at Kibbutz Givat Brenner. From 1939 to 1950, he was a member of Kibbutz Sedot Yam. He was one of the founders of the Masa weekly literary supplement, which he edited for 15 years. In addition, he worked as a literary editor for the newspapers Lemerhav and Davar. From 1968 to 1971, he served as cultural attache at the Israeli embassy in London.

   The author of some 35 books, Megged won the 1974 Bialik Prize for Evyatar Notebooks and Of Trees and Stones. He was also a recipient (in Israel) of the Brenner Prize, the Agnon Prize, the Prime Minister's Prize, and the Koret Foundation Award for Best Jewish Book of 2004. He was awarded the Israel Prize for his contribution to literature in 2003. His favorite subject often is that of many contemporary Israeli authors: the nostalgic preoccupation with the Jewish identity from which the "new Jew," the Sabra, sought to free himself in the state of Israel from the negative stereotype of the "old Jew."