Iris Leal

Iris Leal was born in 1959 in Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhad

Iris Leal was born Iris Fromerman in 1959 at Kibbutz Ashdot Ya'akov Meuhad. Her father was born in Poland and came to Israel with the "Tehran Children" group, and her mother was born in Casablanca. At age 2 she left the kibbutz with her mother, grew up with her grandparents in Bnei Brak, and later moved to Kibbutz Kfar Menahem.

In 1980, after her first daughter was born, she spent a year in Paris and learned French. From 1985 to 1991 she lived in London, where she wrote her first novel, "Healing Farm," published in 1993. The book won the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Writers.

Her later books include "Sudden Happiness," "The Family," "Fire in the House," "Lost Debts" and "We Did Not Dare to Know." Two of them were nominated for the Sapir Prize. Her work often deals with the tension between ordinary family life and individuals seeking to break free of it.

From 2000 she headed the writing department at Camera Obscura. She wrote for the Haaretz books supplement and became a regular Haaretz columnist in August 2014, writing from a left-wing view. Since April 2019 she has served on the public council of the New Israel Fund, and she lives in Tel Aviv with photographer Tamir Sher and their 3 children.