This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (July 2009) Find sources: (Karen Alkalay-Gut – news, books, scholar)

This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (July 2009)

Karen Alkalay-Gut (born 29 March 1945) is an award-winning poet, professor, and editor who lives in Israel and writes in English.

[edit] Personal life

Born in London on the last night of the Blitz buzz bombs, Alkalay-Gut moved with her parents and brother Joseph Rosenstein to Rochester, New York in 1948. She studied at the University of Rochester, receiving her BA with honors and her MA in English literature in 1967. From 1967-70 she taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo before returning to complete her doctorate. In 1972 she moved to Israel, and began teaching at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (1972-6). In 1977 she moved to Tel Aviv University, where she continues to teach.

[edit] Work

In 1980 her first collection, Making Love:Poems appeared with the aid and editorial assistance of poet David Avidan, and she has published over twenty books since. Her latest book, So Far, So Good (2004) focuses on life in Tel Aviv. Her poetry has also appeared in Hebrew, French, Arabic, Yiddish, Rumanian, Polish, Russian, German, Turkish, Persian and Italian.

As a critic, Alkalay-Gut is the author of a biography of Adelaide Crapsey as well as numerous articles on Victorian and contemporary literature. She has participated in numerous anthologies, encyclopedias and edited volumes. She has also translated poetry and drama from Hebrew and other languages, including Yehuda Amichai, Raquel Chalfi, and Hanoch Levin. In 1980 Alkalay-Gut helped found the Israel Association of Writers in English, and has been the chair since 1995. She also serves as vice-chair of the Federation of Writers’ Unions, and is editor of the Jerusalem Review.