Shay K. Azoulay
Shay K. Azoulay | |
|---|---|
שי אזולאי | |
| Born | December 24, 1979 |
| Citizenship | Israel |
| Occupations | novelist, playwright, translator |
| Writing career | |
| Period | 2005–present |
| Genre | Literary Fiction |
| Website | skazoulay |
Shay K. Azoulay (Hebrew: שי אזולאי) is an Israeli writer who writes in English and Hebrew.
Novels
[edit]Azoulay's debut novel Lazaretto (לזארטו) was published in summer 2019 in Hebrew.[1] A review in Haaretz described the novel as “an ambitious, high-tension novel, seeped in paranoia... Lazaretto is a disturbing and stirring dystopia which haunted me while I was reading it and even after I’d finished.”[2] The novel was named "Book of the Year" by LaIsha Magazine which dubbed it "the novel that predicted the pandemic"[3]
Azoulay's second novel Through No Wish of My Own (רכוש צבאי), chronicling a soldier's experiences in the IDF, was published in summer 2026 in Hebrew.[4].
Short stories
[edit]Azoulay has written a series of short stories grouped under the general title "Minor Writers of the Entropic Age". These stories include:
- "Jacob Wallenstein, Notes for a Future Biography", a work of fiction regarding a "forgotten" Israeli science fiction novelist and his 1,000 page magnum opus. In 2013 Azoulay submitted this story to Tablet magazine, claiming that it was a true account of the nonexistent writer's life and work. An editor at the magazine was initially excited by the story, but eventually discovered that it was a hoax, though he decided to publish the story anyway, together with a forward explaining his discovery of the hoax.[5]. A Hebrew version of the story was later anthologized in Mars is Here! A Hebrew Anthology of Speculative Fiction alongside works by Etgar Keret and Shimon Adaf[6]
- "The Invention of H. P. Lovecraft" imagines the controversial author as an invention of Jorge Luis Borges (published in Flapperhouse Magazine[7], a Portuguese translation appeared in Revista Bang! magazine[8])
- "The Bard of Hastings" concerns a homeless poet who achieves online fame (published in The Cost of Paper [9]).
- "Permaculture" about a soviet critic given an impossible task of consolidating all of Russian literature into a single volume (won second prize in the 2016 Zoetrope: All-Story short fiction contest[10]).
- in "Routine" a writer tries to emulate the writing habits of his literary heroes (published in Crack the Spine magazine[11]).
Other short works by Azoulay have appeared in The Molotov Cocktail and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He has also written book reviews for The New York Times.
Plays
[edit]Azoulay's debut play, "The Platoon", a satire about the IDF, won first place in the 2012 staged reading festival "Zav Kriah".[12] The play was staged in Tel Aviv's Tzavtah Theater in 2014-2015 and received good reviews in the press, including a review by prominent theater critic Michael Handelzalts, who compared it to the work of Hanoch Levin.[13] The play also stirred controversy, following an article which mistakenly claimed that the play depicts IDF soldiers raping Palestinian women. A member of the Tel Aviv municipal council sent a letter to the theater, demanding that they stop the staging of the play.[14] Azoulay's other work includes the one-act play "Shade", which participated in the Tzavtah Theater's 2012 Short play Festival, and "Barabas" - a reimagining of Christopher Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta" staged as part of Yiddishpiel's 2018 staged reading festival.
Translations
[edit]Azoulay also works as a Hebrew to English translator, translating non-fiction,[15] children's literature, and plays, including works by playwright Hanoch Levin.[16]
References
[edit]- ↑ Lazaretto, Shay K. Azoulay (in Hebrew)
- ↑ Lazaretto: In This Novel the "State of Tel Aviv" Becomes a Dystopian Reality - Haaretz, 20 January 2020 (in Hebrew)
- ↑ "Lazaretto - The Novel that Predicted the Pandemic" Maya Levin, LaIsha, p. 51, 14 September 2020.
- ↑ Through No Wish of My Own, Shay K. Azoulay (in Hebrew)
- ↑ Jacob Wallenstein Is the Greatest Science-Fiction Writer to Never Have Lived - Tablet Magazine, 16 October 2013
- ↑ Mars is Here! Book page on e-vrit website.
- ↑ The Invention of H. P. Lovecraft - Flapperhouse Magazine, Fall 2016.
- ↑ Revista Bang! 25
- ↑ The Bard of Hastings - The Cost of Paper Vol. 5, Spring 2018.
- ↑ Twentieth Annual Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest - List of winners, Zoetrope: All-Story
- ↑ Routine: A Crack the Spine Themed Anthology, October 2018. ISBN 1732869308
- ↑ IDF Satire wins first prize - Ynet, 1 April 2012 (in Hebrew)
- ↑ "The Platoon" - Princes of the Washtub - Haaretz, 18 January 2015 (in Hebrew)
- ↑ Senior Tel Aviv Council Member: Tzavtah is Demeaning the IDF - Ynet, 6 January 2015 (in Hebrew)
- ↑ Yom Kippur War: Syrians at the Border by Danny Asher
- ↑ Job and Jesus Combine to Overcome - New York Times review of 2006 production of Hanoch Levin's Job's Passion translated by Azoulay
External links
[edit]- Shay K. Azoulay - official website.
- Shay Azoulay on the Israeli Dramatists Website.
- Shay Azoulay on The Short Story Project.
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