Haim Watzman

Haim Watzman is the author of three books: Company C: An American’s Life as a Citizen-Soldier in Israel; A Crack in the Earth: A Journey Up Israel’s Rift Valley; and a story collection, Necessary Stories, a selection from among the more than 150 he has written. His most recent published story is “Correlation Is Not Causation” (Hebrew), which appeared in November 2025 in Hamusach, the literary magazine of the National Library of Israel. A Crack in the Earth was a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize in Jewish Literature. His play The Chair (in English and Hebrew) won the 2021 Theater Institute Award of the Contemporary Jewish Drama International Competition sponsored by the Estera Rachel and Ida Makinskie Jewish Theater in Warsaw. It was performed in a staged reading in 2023 as part of Mikro Theater’s Kings Festival. After the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023 and the beginning of the war, he wrote Doctor for the Brokenhearted (Hebrew). The first section of his newest play, Point of Departure (Hebrew), was presented in a staged reading at the Cameri Theater in November 2025. He also writes monodramas, most recently The Madonna Lily (Hebrew and English). One of the leading translators of Hebrew works into English, with more than 50 books to his credit, he has worked with many of Israel’s leading authors and scholars, among them Shlomo Avineri, David Grossman, Hillel Cohen, Amos Oz, and Tom Segev. He edited the English-language version of Yuval Noah Harari’s worldwide bestseller, Sapiens. An archive of his stories and more information about his books and translations can be found on his website. He lives in Jerusalem.

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