The Sapir Prize, one of Israel’s most prestigious literary awards, was given to Hila Blum’s novel, How to Love Your Daughter (Kinneret Publishing), in a ceremony on Tuesday night.The ceremony, which took place in Rosh Ha’ayin, was held in the presence of Culture Minister Chili Tropper and Mifal HaPayis National Lottery chairman, Avigdor Yitzhaki, was hosted by Shani Cohen. The awards are sponsored by the Mifal Hapayis National Lottery.How to Love Your Daughter tells the story of a woman who travels to the Netherlands to reconnect with the daughter from whom she became estranged years ago. A Jerusalem native, Blum worked as at Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, one of Israel’s leading publishing houses, for many years. Her previous books include The Visit. She will receive an award of NIS 150,000 and her book will be translated into Arabic and another language of her choosing. In addition, Mifal Hapayis will purchase 500 copies of the books of the authors whose books were selected for the shortlist and will give them to public libraries throughout the country.Romit Samson won the award for Best Debut for her book, The Back Kitchen. She will receive an award of NIS 75,000.Tropper said, “Congratulations to the winners of the Sapir Prize for Hebrew Literature. Despite the challenges in the world of literature in the past year and in general, Israeli literature continues to produce a great literary crop. Your words and sentences create a whole world of complexity, sensitivity and humanity. Special thanks to Mifal Hapayis, which continues to put Israeli literature and our writers at the center of the Israeli stage.”
The other books on the shortlist for the Sapir Prize for 2021 were Shimon Adaf’s The Evicted Language (Pardes Publishing), Yaniv Iczkovits’s Nobody Leaves Palo Alto (Keter), Boris Zaidman’s Intermediate Stations (Pardes Publishing) and Dror Mishani’s Faith (Ahuzat Beit).The Sapir Prize was established in 2000 and is named for the former Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir. Previous winners include such authors as David Grossman, Etgar Keret and Gail Hareven.