Writer Sami Michael

published on 6/10/10 10:29 AM

Writer Sami Michael

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Sami Michael is an Israeli author and President of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. Mr. Michael was born Sallah Menasse in Baghdad. “My life is a gallery of colorful images,” he says. The style of the writer is clean and direct, but very expressive at the same time. All of his stories are characterized by authenticity and personal attitude.

Some of Michael’s books are motivated by the authors’ personal experience. Sufa ben ha-D'kalim (meaning "Storm Among the Palms") is a book that tells the story of a young Jewish boy growing in the suburbs of Baghdad – a world full of magic, dangers, street fights, and sad love stories. “I was not the typical Jewish boy,” Michael says about himself. “I used to get involved in adventures different from what the ordinary Jewish boys from the ghetto knew.” The book “Tin Shacks and Dreams” describes the lives of people living in a temporary camp for poor in the beginning of the modern Israeli state. Violence grows on the conflict soil while dreams for happiness haven’t matured yet.

Other books by Michael examine the clash between the political identities of Israel. “Sometimes I feel that there are two identities inside me,” Mr. Michael says. “The one is of an Arab from Iraq, while the other one is of an Israeli Jew.”

Sami Michael’s novel Viktoria has been presented at the Book Fair in Sofia. The book reveals a world created by the author, who urges the readers to stay involved until the very end. The novel dwells on the changes through which people go through. The characters in the book are Jews from Baghdad. The world Sami Michael describes does not exist any more, but Viktoria will remain an artistic and timeless masterpiece.
Here is what Sami Michael said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria:(audio)

English: Alexander Markov

По публикацията работи: Maria Racheva

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Writer Sami Michael

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