Motti LERNER

  • Asia
  • Western Asia
  • Israel
Hebrew

Motti LERNER (born 1949, Israel) teaches political playwriting to graduate students in the Theatre Department at Tel Aviv University, and dramatic writing at the Kibbutz College Drama School. He has been a freelance playwright and screenwriter for the major theaters and television channels in Israel since 1984. He was the 1994 recipient of his nation's most important literary award, the Prime Minister of Israel Award for Writers. His plays include "Kastner, a political/historical drama," which received the Best Play of the Year award in 1985 and was produced in Germany; and "Exile in Jerusalem" which was produced by the Royal National Theatre Studio in London, and featured Julie Harris in the title role at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts in 1994. His most recent works include "The Murder of Isaac" (1999), on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and "The Institution," an ongoing TV series dealing with the life of therapists and their patients. Mr. Lerner's studies in mathematics and physics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem were interrupted by service in the Israel Defense Forces; following the resumption of his mathematics studies, he studied theatre and attended various theatre workshops in London and San Francisco. He is attending the IWP through support from the U.S.-Israel Educational Foundation.

Happening Now

  • We regret the passing, on April 11, 2024, of the distinguished Romanian author and critic Dan Cristea, who served as the editor in chief of the Luceafărul de Dimineață cultural monthly. In addition to being an alum of the 1985 Fall Residency, Cristea received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa.

  • Our congratulations to 1986 Fall Residency writer Kwame Dawes, who has been named the new poet laureate of Jamaica.

  • Congratulations to our colleagues Jennifer Croft and Aron Aji, who are among those serving as judges for the National Book Awards this year, in their case in the category of translated literature.

  • Ranjit Hoskote’s speech at the 2024 Goa Literary Festival addresses the current situation in Gaza.

  • In NY Times, Bina Shah worries about the state of Pakistani—and American—democracy.

Find Us Online