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AHARON APPELFELD was born in a village near Czernowitz, Bukovina, in 1932. During World War II, he was deported to a concentration camp in Transnistria, but escaped. He was eight years old. For the next three years, he wandered the forests. In 1944, he was picked up by the Red Army, served in field kitchens in Ukraine, then made his way to Italy. He reached Palestine in 1946. Today, Appelfield is Professor Emeritus of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University at Beersheva, a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has won numerous prizes, including the Israel Prize; MLA Commonwealth Award in Literature; Prix Medicis etranger in France; Premio Grinzane Cavour and Premio Boccaccio Internazionale; Bertha von Suttner Award for Culture and Peace; and 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. In 2013, he was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize, and in 2015 his first book for young readers, Adam & Thomas, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award, was a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and was a 2016 ALA Mildred E. Batchelder Honor Book. JEFFREY M. GREEN began to translate for Aharon Appelfeld in the 1980s and has translated a dozen or so of his novels. Green is the author of Thinking Through Translation, as well as short stories, poems, novels, book reviews, and essays.
Appelfeld (1932-2018) was a master storyteller, and his approach here resembles that of Isaac Bashevis Singer. But there is also a kind of naivete-Yanek does not quite understand what has happened to his parents and grandfather-that is reminiscent of Morris Gleitzman's Once trilogy. While Grandpa Sergei instructs Yanek to wear a cross to protect himself against anti-Semitic harm, the danger they both face is prejudice against wanderers. The illustrations are strong yet stark and add to representation of the wanderers' existence. This book adds a simple yet unexpected depth to the cadre of Holocaust refugee narratives. It offers memorable characters and little-known experiences. It could become a new favorite. -Barbara Krasner, Association of Jewish Libraries newsletter [A] poignant tale of loss and survival. -Publishers Weekly This haunt ing account of a young Jew ish boy in World War II Ukraine embod ies both myth and his to ry. . . . The sub tle ty with which Appelfeld avoids com fort ing con clu sions about human inde struc tibil i ty in the face of evil is one of the most pro found achieve ments of this novel. . . . .Although Long Sum mer Nights is not a pic ture book, Vali Mintzi's illus tra tions - inter spersed through out the text - are an essen tial com ple ment to Appelfeld's text. Drawn in the style of char coal sketch es, they cap ture the link between human beings and nature which reflects Yanek and Grand pa Sergei's life in the coun try side. Peo ple are dark sil hou ettes or have min i mal ly defined fea tures, lend ing a folk loric qual i ty to this tale of the lost world pre served in Appelfeld's poet ry of anguish and love. Long Sum mer Nights is high ly rec om mend ed for both chil dren and adults. -Jewish Book Council
