Dror Burstein​

 

One of the most versatile and profoundly original voices in contemporary Israeli literature, Dror Burstein is a novelist, poet, essayist, and scholar whose work seamlessly bridges ancient wisdom, eco-poetics, and the nuances of everyday life.
Born in Netanya in 1970 and currently residing in Tel Aviv, Burstein received his Ph.D. from the Department of Hebrew Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2003. He serves as an Associate Professor at the university, where he has also headed the prestigious Creative Writing Program since 2016.
 

Burstein is the author of 26 books across multiple genres, including widely acclaimed fiction, poetry, children’s literature, and essays with a distinct focus on eco-poetics. His literary achievements have been recognized with Israel’s highest honors, including the Bialik Prize, the Prime Minister’s Prize, the Bernstein Prize, the Newman Prize, and the Y. L. Goldberg Prize.
 

On the international stage, Burstein’s writing has garnered widespread acclaim and has been translated widely, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Turkish, and Azeri. His novels Kin and Netanya (both Dalkey Archive Press) introduced his distinct voice to English readers, with Netanya being shortlisted for the UK's Wingate Prize. His ambitious novel Muck was published in the US by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. His global reach continues to expand with the forthcoming French edition of Muck (Boue, Actes Sud, November 2026) and the German edition of his cross-disciplinary study on insects and literature, Small World (Kleine Welt, Kein & Aber, forthcoming).
 

Deeply engaged with Eastern philosophy and nature, Burstein collaborated with the late, legendary author Prof. Yoel Hoffman on Hebrew editions of classic Zen texts, including The Sayings of Joshu and The Sound of the One Hand—the English translation of his introduction to the latter features in the prestigious New York Review Books (NYRB) Classics edition. An accomplished translator himself, he has brought the works of Alan Watts, Jim Crumley, and select international haiku poets to Hebrew readers.

 

List of Books in Translation

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Novel: The Grandson​​

Eco-Criticism/Literature: Small World: Portraits of Insects

Three Novellas: On The Way

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