Sayed Kashua

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Sayed Kashua (1975- ) is an Israeli Arab author and journalist born in Tira, Israel.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Sayed Kashua was born in Tira in the Triangle region of Israel. In 1990, he was accepted to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem.[1] He studied sociology and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Kashua was a resident of Beit Safafa before moving to a Jewish neighborhood with his wife and 2 children.

[edit] Literary career

Kashua writes satiric columns in Hebrew for Haaretz newspaper and a local Jerusalem weekly, HaIr. In a humorous, tongue-in-cheek style, Kashua addresses the problems faced by Arabs in Israel, caught between two worlds.[2]

While Kashua's two books have been praised by the Israeli press they have not been well-received by literary critics in the Arab world.[3]

[edit] Television

Avoda Aravit (Arab Labor), a satiric sitcom written by Kashua was broadcast on Israel Television. A large part of the dialogue is in Arabic with Hebrew subtitles. The show is about a young Arab couple, Amjad and Bushra, and their young daughter, who live in an Arab village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Amjad is a journalist working for a Hebrew newspaper (much like Haaretz) who desperately seeks to assimilate into the prevailing Israeli Jewish cultural milieu with mixed and hilarious results.[4] The show holds a mirror up to the racism and ignorance on both sides of the ethnic divide and has been compared with All in the Family.

Arab Labor won the Award for Best Television Series at the Jerusalem Film Festival. [5]

[edit] Published works

  • Dancing Arabs (2002)
  • Let it be Morning (2006)

[edit] Documentaries

A 2009 documentary film produced by Dorit Zimbalist, Sayed Kashua - Forever Scared, documents the upheavals and events that changed Kashua's life over a period of seven years.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Straddling Cultures, Irreverently, in Life and Art - New York Times
  2. ^ http://bostonreview.net/BR31.5/lalami.html Native Speaker Lalami, Laila. Boston Review.
  3. ^ Kayyal, Mahmoud: “Arabs Dancing in a New Light of Arabesques': Minor Hebrew Works of Palestinian Authors in the Eyes of Critics;' Middle Eastern Literatures (2008) p.47
  4. ^ Straddling Cultures, Irreverently, in Life and Art - New York Times
  5. ^ Award winners
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