Adi Keissar

Poet Adi Keissar is perhaps best known for the politicized literary project of which she is founder and director, Ars Poetica, devoted to writing by Israelis of Mizrahi, that is, “eastern”, background: Jews with roots in Arabic and/or Moslem countries and regions.

The name Ars Poetica is Hebrew word play on the Latin phrase meaning the “art of poetry”. In Arabic the word ars means pimp; in Hebrew, an ars is a young, lower class Jewish man of Mizrahi heritage – an insult. So the movement, taking an in-your-face tack, means to celebrate what has been devalued.

But her poetry is not only political. On a poem from Keissar's first book, which depicts her father's stutter, blogger Shoey Raz writes that “she manages to capture something finely pan-human, in a way which  allows me to feel I share [an experience] with her and she with me”:

Sometimes
my father stut-
ters.
When he's excited
or angry
sand bags
fall on his tongue
and he gets stu- stu
stuck.

The author of three books of poetry, Keissar is the recipient of literary prizes from the Israeli Writers Association, the Ministry of Culture, the Bernstein Foundation and Saloona magazine. Born in Jerusalem, she holds a B.A. in film and television from Hadassah Academic College, as well as an Open University B.A., and an M.A. in screenwriting from Tel Aviv University.