Poet and Israel Prize Laureate Tuvia Rivner (Rübner/Ruebner) will be honored on the occasion of his 88th birthday at Beit Bialik (Bialik House) on January 19, 2012.
Born in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1924, Rivner came to Israel through Aliyat HaNoar, with nine other young people at the outset of WWII; his family was killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. After working on several kibbutzim and taking part in the War of Independence, Rivner joined Kibbutz Merhaviya. Writing poems and short stories since childhood, Rivner wrote solely in German until 1950 when his first poem in Hebrew was published by Lea Goldberg in Davar. His first book of poetry was published in 1957, he has published 15 books of poetry in Hebrew, and several have been translated to German, and individual poems have been translated to English.
In the early years of his development as a poet Rivner worked closely with the poet Area Ludwig Strauss, who connected him with German poets such as Werner Kraft. Rivner, in turn, was a mentor of the poet Dan Pagis, and a long time friend of the poet Ozer Rabin. Rivner was also close to Lea Goldberg and was chosen as the editor of her literary heritage, publishing a monograph on Goldberg in 1980.
Rivner will be celebrated in an evening of poetry and music. Participants will include Israel Prize Laureate and close friend to Rivner, the poet Israel Pinkas; actress/director and former student of Rivner’s – Michal Bat Adam; Literature researcher Nissim Kalderon; and Rivner’s editor and publisher, the poet Rafi Weichert. The evening will be hosted by Gideon Tikotzky.
Beit Bialik, 22 Bialik Street, Tel Aviv. The box office will open at 19:30, and the event will begin at 20:30. Tickets are 35 NIS. For additional information call: 03-5254530. Chief Curator and Director of the Bialik Center:Ayelet Bitan Shlonsky; Beit Bialik Literary Editor: Yakir Ben Moshe.
