Literatureחזי לסקלי

Hezy Leskly

Hezy Leskly was an Israeli poet, choreographer and dance critic whose poetry dealt with gay life and dance.

1952 to 1994Poetry about gay life and danceDance criticism in Ha'irEarly openly gay Israeli figure

Born: 26 July 1952, Rehovot
Died: 26 May 1994, Givatayim
Occupation: poet, choreographer, art critic, painter

Hezy Leskly was born in 1952 in Rehovot

Yehezkel (Hezy) Leskly was born in Rehovot in 1952. His parents were Czech Jews who survived the Holocaust. The family moved to Givatayim when he was a young child.

He began writing poems at 14 and published in magazines at 18. At 22 he moved to The Hague in the Netherlands, where he studied dance and art.

After returning to Israel he wrote dance criticism for the Tel Aviv local paper Ha'ir, where he was on staff from 1980 and also worked as an editor. He also worked as a painter and choreographer. He published 4 books of poetry in his lifetime, starting with HaEtzba in 1986.

Leskly was among the first Israelis to publicly identify as gay and took part in LGBT organizations. A column he wrote revealing that Gabriel Sherover had been gay and died of AIDS caused a public scandal.

He died of AIDS-related complications in 1994 in Givatayim. His last book appeared after his death. A documentary about him was released in 1996, and a selection of all his poems was published in 2009.