Richard Zimler
Encyclopedia
Richard Zimler is a best-selling author of fiction. His books, which have earned him a 1994 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Fiction and the 1998 Herodotus Award, have been published in many countries and translated into more than 20 languages. He has a bachelor's degree in Comparative Religion from Duke University
and a master's degree in Journalism from Stanford University
. Zimler lives in Porto
, Portugal
, and was a Professor of Journalism at the University of Porto
and College of Journalism for 16 years. He has been a naturalized Portuguese citizen since 2002.
Richard Zimler received the 2009 Alberto Benveniste literary prize in France for his novel Guardian of the Dawn. The prize is given to novels that have to do with Sephardic Jewish culture or history. It was awarded to him at a ceremony at the Sorbonne
in January 2009.
Three of Zimler's novels - Hunting Midnight, The Search for Sana and The Seventh Gate - have been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
, the richest prize in the English-Speaking world.
Zimler has also edited an anthology of short stories for which all the author's royalties go to Save the Children
, the largest children's rights organization in the world. The anthology is entitled The Children's Hours. Participating authors include
Margaret Atwood
, Nadine Gordimer
, André Brink
, Markus Zusak
, David Almond
, Katherine Vaz
, Alberto Manguel
, Eva Hoffman
, Junot Díaz
, Uri Orlev
and Ali Smith
.
In 2009, Zimler wrote and acted in The Slow Mirror, a short movie based on one of his stories. Directed by Swedish-Portuguese filmmaker Solveig Nordlund
, the short stars Portuguese actors Gracinda Nave and Marta Peneda. In May 2010, it won the Best Drama award from the New York Downtown Short Film Festival.
His most recent novel, The Warsaw Anagrams, was chosen as 2009 Book of the Year by the main Portuguese book magazine Ler and by the country's high school teachers and students (the 2010 Mariquis de Ouro prize). It was also chosen as one of the 20 Best Books of the Decade 2000-2009 by the country's foremost daily newspaper, Público. In August of 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle
described the book as follows: "Equal parts riveting, heartbreaking, inspiring and intelligent, this mystery set in the most infamous Jewish ghetto of World War II deserves a place among the most important works of Holocaust literature."
In August of 2011, Zimler published his first book of poetry: Love's Voice: 72 Kabbalistic Haiku. The verses in the book express Jewish mystical ideas and imagery in the form of haiku
.
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
and a master's degree in Journalism from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Zimler lives in Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, and was a Professor of Journalism at the University of Porto
University of Porto
The University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...
and College of Journalism for 16 years. He has been a naturalized Portuguese citizen since 2002.
Richard Zimler received the 2009 Alberto Benveniste literary prize in France for his novel Guardian of the Dawn. The prize is given to novels that have to do with Sephardic Jewish culture or history. It was awarded to him at a ceremony at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in January 2009.
Three of Zimler's novels - Hunting Midnight, The Search for Sana and The Seventh Gate - have been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
, the richest prize in the English-Speaking world.
Zimler has also edited an anthology of short stories for which all the author's royalties go to Save the Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...
, the largest children's rights organization in the world. The anthology is entitled The Children's Hours. Participating authors include
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt...
, André Brink
André Brink
André Philippus Brink, OIS, is a South African novelist. He writes in Afrikaans and English and is a Professor of English at the University of Cape Town....
, Markus Zusak
Markus Zusak
Markus Zusak is an Australian author. He is best known for his books The Book Thief and The Messenger , which have been international bestsellers.- Career :...
, David Almond
David Almond
David Almond is a British children's writer who has written several novels, each one to critical acclaim.-Early life:Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia, he was born in 1951...
, Katherine Vaz
Katherine Vaz
Katherine Vaz is an American writer.-Award:*1997: Drue Heinz Literature Prize, -References:...
, Alberto Manguel
Alberto Manguel
Alberto Manguel is a Canadian Argentine-born writer, translator, and editor. He is the author of numerous non-fiction books such as The Dictionary of Imaginary Places , A History of Reading , The Library at Night and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: A Biography ; and novels such as News...
, Eva Hoffman
Eva Hoffman
Eva Hoffman is a writer and academic. She was born Ewa Wydra July 1, 1945 in Cracow, Poland after her Jewish parents survived the Holocaust by hiding in the Ukraine. In 1959, during the Cold War, the thirteen years old Eva, her nine years old sister "Alinka" and her parents immigrated to Vancouver,...
, Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer and creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience...
, Uri Orlev
Uri Orlev
Uri Orlev is an award-winning Israeli children's author and translator of Polish-Jewish origin.-Biography:Uri Orlev, born Jerzy Henryk Orlowski, was born in Warsaw, Poland. He survived the war years in the Warsaw Ghetto and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he was sent to after his...
and Ali Smith
Ali Smith
Ali Smith is a British writer.She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a PhD that was never finished. She worked as a lecturer at University of...
.
In 2009, Zimler wrote and acted in The Slow Mirror, a short movie based on one of his stories. Directed by Swedish-Portuguese filmmaker Solveig Nordlund
Solveig Nordlund
-Biography:Nordlund took a in History of Arts in the University of Stockholm. In 1962, she meets Alberto Seixas Santos and her interest in cinema grows...
, the short stars Portuguese actors Gracinda Nave and Marta Peneda. In May 2010, it won the Best Drama award from the New York Downtown Short Film Festival.
His most recent novel, The Warsaw Anagrams, was chosen as 2009 Book of the Year by the main Portuguese book magazine Ler and by the country's high school teachers and students (the 2010 Mariquis de Ouro prize). It was also chosen as one of the 20 Best Books of the Decade 2000-2009 by the country's foremost daily newspaper, Público. In August of 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
described the book as follows: "Equal parts riveting, heartbreaking, inspiring and intelligent, this mystery set in the most infamous Jewish ghetto of World War II deserves a place among the most important works of Holocaust literature."
In August of 2011, Zimler published his first book of poetry: Love's Voice: 72 Kabbalistic Haiku. The verses in the book express Jewish mystical ideas and imagery in the form of haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
.
Selected works
- The Warsaw Anagrams (February, 2011)
- The Seventh Gate (February, 2007)
- The Search for Sana (June, 2005)
- Guardian of the Dawn (February, 2005)
- Hunting Midnight (July, 2003)
- The Angelic Darkness (September, 1998)
- The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon (April, 1996)
- Unholy Ghosts (1996)
External links
- author's website
- various videos about Richard Zimler, including interviews and readings of books
- article in Rediff (Indian Magazine) about Zimler, the Inquisition in Goa and his novel Guardian of the Dawn
- Interview with Zimler in Tikkun magazine.
- Article in the Jewish Forward about Zimler and his work
- Review of The Warsaw Anagrams in The Independent
- Review of The Warsaw Anagrams in A Common Reader
- Interview with Richard Zimler in 1001 Secrets of Successful Writers
- Review of The Warsaw Anagrams in the San Francisco Chronicle