Natan Yonatan

Natan Yonatan was born in 1923 in Kyiv

Natan Yonatan was born Natan Klein in Kyiv in 1923. His family moved to the Land of Israel when he was a small child and later settled in Petah Tikva. In 1935 they were among the first settlers of the village later named Ma'as.

He was a member of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. In 1945 he joined kibbutz Sarid, where he lived for 46 years until 1991. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, and also studied at Oxford University.

He published his first poem in 1940 and his first book of poems, Dirt Paths, in 1951. He wrote poetry collections, books for children and youth, and stories, and translated Yiddish poetry into Hebrew. Many of his poems were set to music.

From 1971 to 1997 he was editor in chief of the Sifriat Poalim publishing house. He taught at colleges, at the University of Haifa and in high schools, and served as president of the Hebrew Writers Association from 1995 to 1999. His son Lior was killed in the Yom Kippur War, a loss reflected in his poems.

From 1991 he lived near Tel Aviv. He died in 2004. A collection of all his poems, which he edited himself, appeared that year.