Reuven (Ruby) Namdar was born and raised in Jerusalem. He completed his BA (Sociology, Philosophy and Iranian Studies) and his Master’s degree (Anthropology) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His first book, Haviv, (a collection of short stories) was published in 2000 and won The Ministry of Culture's award for the best first publication of the year. The manuscript also won The Jerusalem Fiction award for 1998. His new novel HaBayit Asher Necherav (The Ruined House) was published by Kinneret-Zmorah-Bitan in the summer of 2013, received great critical acclaim and has recently won the Sapir Prize – Israel’s most prestigious literary award. He is currently living in New York City and teaches Jewish and Israeli literature.
