Rabikovitz, Dalia 1936–2005

(Dalyah Rabikowitz, Dahlia Ravikovitch, Dalia Ravikovitch)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born November 17, 1936, in Ramat Gan, Palestine (now Israel); died from a suspected suicide attempt, August 21, 2005. Author. Rabikovitz was a prominent Israeli poet associated with the "state generation" of writers who were born just after the country was founded. Her difficult childhood included the death of her father when she was six and several years spent in a much-disliked kibbutz. Unhappy with life in a collective community, she left the kibbutz at the age of thirteen and spent five years in foster homes. Married at the young age of eighteen, Rabikovitz soon went through the first of what would eventually be three divorces. As an Israeli citizen, she next served her compulsory military service, and it was during this time that she began writing poetry. Rabikovitz would go on to attend Hebrew University and, from 1959 to 1963, she worked as a teacher. She would also occasionally work as a journalist. Sometimes called unpatriotic for her controversial opinions, Rabikovitz's verses revealed her concerns for justice, her outrage over the treatment of Palestinians by the Israelis and violence against women and children, and a disdain for secularist, urban Israelites. In addition to her poems, she also was a translator of English-language writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, T.S. Eliot, and Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers. She also wrote several children's books and short-story collections. Rabikovitz's work earned her such honors as the 1987 Bialik Prize for poetry and the 1998 Israel Literary Prize. Many of her books have been translated into other languages, including two into English: A Dress of Fire (1976) and The Window: New and Selected Poems (1989). She was also the editor of The New Israeli Writers: Short Stories of the First Generation (1990). Having struggled with depression for many years, her death was suspected to be a suicide.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), August 30, 2005, p. 20.

Independent (London, England), August 24, 2005, p. 32.

Times (London, England), September 5, 2005, p. 52.