Literatureדבורה עומר

Dvora Omer

Dvora Omer was an Israeli writer of books for children and young adults who received the Israel Prize in 2006.

1932 to 2013Children's and young adult booksBiographies of Zionist historical figuresThe Dapei Tamar series

Born: 10 October 1932, Maoz Haim
Died: 2 May 2013, Kfar Ma'as
Occupation: writer, pedagogue, educator, children's writer
Education: Oranim Academic College

Dvora Omer was born in 1932 in Maoz Haim

Dvora Omer was born in 1932 to Moshe Mosenzon, a writer and newspaper editor, and Leah Sharshevsky. After her parents divorced, she joined her mother in the group that founded Kibbutz Maoz Haim. When she was 11, her mother was killed in a Haganah training accident.

Her first stories appeared in the youth paper Bama'aleh, which her father edited. After her military service she studied at Oranim and taught in Maoz Haim and Mishmar HaSharon.

In 1955 she began a column in Davar LeYeladim written as the diary of a kibbutz girl, which became a book series starting in 1959. From 1960 to 1964 she taught at a Jewish school in Winnipeg, Canada. Many of her books are biographies for young readers about figures from Zionist history, and some were staged as children's plays.

She was married to Shmuel Omer, later director of Habima Theatre, and they had 3 children. She lived in Kfar Ma'as and died in 2013. Schools in several cities are named after her.