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Shifra Horn (born 1951) is an Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i author.

Biography

Shifra Horn was born in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

. She lives in the Gilo

Gilo

Gilo is a neighborhood in southern East Jerusalem with a population of 40,000, mostly Jewish. It is one of the five ring neighborhoods of Jerusalem and is built on land in the West Bank that was annexed to Israel in 1980 under the Jerusalem Law. The international community regards it as an...

 neighbourhood of Jerusalem. After majoring in Bible Studies and Archeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

, she earned an MA in Bible Studies. Horn also studied mass communications and completed a teaching degree.

Horn worked as an educational officer for the World Union of Jewish Students

World Union of Jewish Students

The World Union of Jewish Students is the international, pluralistic, non-partisan umbrella organisation of 48 national independent Jewish Student Unions from all over the world, founded in 1924, with Albert Einstein as its first President...

, and helped to organize the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Horn also participated in the campaign to free Soviet and Syrian Jews

Syrian Jews

Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern state of Syria, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern...

, producing films and written material.

In the course of her work with Jewish students from oppressed communities around the world, she discovered a village of Jewish Marranos who had kept their Jewish identity secret for over 500 years. Horn's activity in the village of Belmonte in northwest 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...

 resulted in the entire population converting fully to Judaism.

Horn was a spokesperson for the Israel Absorption Ministry until her departure for Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, where she served as Far East correspondent for the Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

 Radio station and Ma'ariv

Maariv

Maariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...

 daily newspaper for five years. Horn worked as the director of the Tokyo Jewish Community Center and taught Bible Studies and Hebrew at the Bible College in Ginza, Tokyo.

Upon her return to Jerusalem, she opened a public relations firm, and lectured on Japan and literary topics. Her books have been translated from Hebrew into English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Greek, Mandarin and Turkish.

Published work

• Novels:
  • Four Mothers
  • The Fairest Among Women
  • Tamara Walks On Water
  • Ode to Joy.

• Non-fiction:
  • Shalom Japan
  • Cats
  • A Love story

• Children's Book:
  • The Perfect Pet

Awards

Horn won the WIZO

WIZO

Wizo is a punk rock band from Sindelfingen, Germany. The band was formed in 1985. Their messages run from political to humorous, and they are strongly opposed to Nazism, fascism, racism, and "all of that crap"...

 Prize (1997) and the Publishers` Association's Gold and Platinum Book Prizes for all four of her bestselling novels. She was nominated Literary Woman of the Year by the financial daily Globes

Globes

Globes is a Hebrew language daily evening financial newspaper, published in Israel. According to TGI 2009 media survey Globes' market share rose 15% over the year to 4.4%. Its main competitors in printed media are TheMarker of Haaretz group and Calcalist published by Yedioth Ahronoth Group...

 (2002), and received the Prime Minister's Prize (2005) and the Brenner Prize

Brenner Prize

The Brenner Prize is an Israeli literary prize awarded annually by the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel and the Haft Family Foundation.It was founded in the name of the author Yosef Haim Brenner and was first awarded in 1945....

(2006).

External links

• Shifra Horn website
• http://www.ithl.org.il/author_info.asp?id=123