Rachel Eytan

Rachel Eytan (1932-1987) was born in Tel Aviv. She spent part of her childhood in children’s homes and later moved to a border kibbutz. She taught high school for four years, working closely with the children of new immigrants, and later was a journalist. Her short stories appeared in the daily press and in literary magazines. In 1967 she moved to New York where she continued to write. She became a professor of Hebrew and Yiddish literature and taught at Hofstra University. In 1966 her novel, The Fifth Heaven, was awarded the prestigious Brenner Prize.