Yossi Abulafia ( he, יוסי אבולעפיה; born 1944) is an Israeli writer and illustrator of children's books, as well as a graphic artist, cartoonist, director and screenwriter of

animation film Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

Biography

Abulafia was born in

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Fo ...

in 1944 in what was then the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

. At age 17, he was accepted to Israel's national school of art "

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ( he, בצלאל, אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב) is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldes ...

". He graduated from the school after majoring graphic design for 4 years. After his military service Abulafia began to work in the Israeli Channel 1 as graphic artist and cartoonist.

Work

In 1975 Abulafia illustrated the back cover for

Kaveret Kaveret ( he, כוורת, lit. "beehive"), also known as Poogy ( he, פוגי, nickname of band drummer Meir Fenigstein chosen for their performances abroad), was an Israeli rock band, which operated originally from 1973 to 1976. Representing Is ...

's third album '' Crowded in the Ear'' (צפוף באוזן) which was a collage of images illustrating the various songs on the album in the style of the famous

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

illustrations done by

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...

. Towards the mid-1980s Abulafia moved to North America, where he worked for six years as an animation producer and as a director in both Canada and the United States. During these years Abulafia began to illustrate and write children's books, both for Israelis and for Americans. In 1990 Abulafia published the children's book ''HaKina Nechama'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: Nechama the Head Louse) which was written by

Meir Shalev Meir Shalev ( he, מאיר שלו; born 29 July 1948) is an Israeli writer and newspaper columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth . Shalev's books have been translated into 26 languages. Biography Shalev was born in Nahalal, Israel. Later he ...

and illustrated by Abulafia. The book, which humorously describes the adventures of a

head louse The head louse (''Pediculus humanus capitis'') is an obligate ectoparasite of humans. Head lice are wingless insects that spend their entire lives on the human scalp and feeding exclusively on human blood. Humans are the only known hosts of th ...

, became very popular and influential in Israel and was adapted to other media numerous times. In 1999 Abulafia created all the transition animated clips of the 1999 Eurovision song contest held in Israel, which were based on the stories of the Bible. To date, Abulafia has illustrated more than 140 books (eight of them were written by him), and is widely known for illustrating the children's books written by Ephraim Sidon and

. Abulafia used to illustrate for the Israeli newspapers ''

Hadashot ''Hadashot'' (, lit. ''News'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Israel between 1984 and 1993. History On 4 March 1984 Haaretz Group CEO Amos Schocken announced that a new daily newspaper, ''Hadashot'' was to be launched, with ...

'' and ''

Ma'ariv ''Maariv'' or ''Maʿariv'' (, ), also known as ''Arvit'' (, ), is a Jewish prayer service held in the evening or night. It consists primarily of the evening ''Shema'' and ''Amidah''. The service will often begin with two verses from Psalms, ...

'', and served as the head of the animation department at the

, which he established together with Hanan Kaminski.

Personal life

Abulafia currently resides in the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

Har Adar Har Adar ( he, הַר אֲדָר) is an Israeli settlement organized as a local council in the Seam Zone and the Maccabim sub-region of the West Bank. Founded in 1986, it had a population of in . It is located near Abu Ghosh and the Green Li ...

, and serves as a senior lecturer in the animation department of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design.

Films

* ''Canada Vignettes: News Canada'' * ''Friends of the Family'' * ''Ottawa 82 Logo''

Notable books illustrated by Yossi Abulafia

* ''Am I Beautiful?'' (by

Else Holmelund Minarik Else Holmelund Minarik (née Holmelund; September 13, 1920 – July 12, 2012) was an American author of more than 40 children's books. She was most commonly associated with her '' Little Bear'' series of children's books, which were adapted for t ...

) * ''Clean House'' (by Jessie Haas) * ''Harry's Pony'' (by Barbara Ann Porte) * ''It's Valentine's Day'' (by

Jack Prelutsky Jack Prelutsky (born September 8, 1940) is an American writer of children's poetry who has published over 50 poetry collections. He served as the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (now called the Young People's Poet Laureate) from 2006–08 ...

) * ''My Parents Think I'm Sleeping'' (by

) * ''Moving Day'' (by Robert Kalan)

References

External links

Yossi Abulafia's Homepage
*

(Hebrew)
Yossi Abulafia
– on the

Am Oved Am Oved ("A Working People") is an Israeli publishing house. History Am Oved was founded in 1942 by Berl Katznelson, who was its first Editor in Chief. It was created as an organ of the Histadrut, Israel's federation of Labor, with a goal of publi ...

website (Hebrew)
Yossi Abulafia
– brief biography on The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature website (English)

– article published on

Nrg Maariv ''Maariv'' () is a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in Israel. From Sunday to Thursday, it is printed under the ''Ma'ariv Hashavu'a'' () brand, while the weekend edition that is out on Friday is called ''Ma'ariv SofHashavu'a'' (). ...

on May 11, 2009 (Hebrew)
Interview with Yossi Abulafia
– article published on

on May 13, 2009 (Hebrew)
Review of Yossi Abulafia's books on simania.co.il
(Hebrew) {{DEFAULTSORT:Abulafia, Yossi Hebrew-language writers Israeli cartoonists Israeli animators Israeli animated film directors Israeli illustrators 20th-century Israeli male writers 21st-century Israeli male writers Academic staff of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design 1944 births Living people Jewish Israeli writers Jewish artists People from Tiberias Israeli settlers