January 24, 2013

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld was named to the shortlist for the Mann Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement.

Appelfeld, 80, was among 10 authors from around the world who were chosen for the prestigious prize in 2013. The winner will be announced in May.

Appelfeld writes fiction in Hebrew — a language he learned in his teens after escaping a German concentration camp, joining the Soviet army and living in a displaced persons camp in Italy before arriving in prestate Israel in 1946. Most of his work focuses on Jewish life in Europe before, during and after World War II.

Others on the shortlist are Lydia Davis and Marilynne Robinson of the United States; U R Ananthamurthy, India; Intizar Husain, Pakistan; Yan Lianke, China; Marie NDiaye, France; Josip Novakovich, Canada; Vladimir Sorokin, Russia; and Peter Stamm, Switzerland.

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