During a ceremony that took place on Monday, February 2, 2022 at Yad LaBanim on Hayarkon Street, Haifa, fellowships were awarded to the winners in the presence of Mayor Dr. Einat Kalisch Rotem, Foundation CEO Mrs. Aviva Shpigelstein, members of the Board of the Haifa Arts Foundation, members of the Judging Panel, the contributors of the fellowships, and the recipients of the fellowships.

MC: Journalist Eliran Tal, Haifa Municipality Spokesman.

Grants in the Film category and from the Szabo Foundation were also awarded during this ceremony.

 On behalf of the Judging Panel, poetess and writer Zvia Fuhrer, a member of the Writers’ Association Committee and member of the Judging Panel, addressed the audience.

During the ceremony, Creative Grants were awarded to the following writers:

• Daphna Levine for her collection “Cut at the Seamline” (Prose)
• Zvika Sternfeld for “The Cyclops’ Second Eye” (Poetry)
• Varda Samuels for “Triangular Hearts”, Debut author (Poetry)

 Excerpts from the Judging Panel Considerations:

• Daphna Levine for her book “Cut at the Seamline” (Prose)

The stories related herein take place in a mixed Haifa neighborhood, situated at the seamline between the Jewish and the Arab sections of the city. Life is vibrant in the neighborhood, even during the Covid epidemic, which is subtly hinted at, in the form of restrictions imposed on circulation at the beginning of the epidemic, counting the number of closures and quarantined areas, concern about elderly parents. The reader is absorbed into the community life, rejoicing with neighbors who are so intimately acquainted with each other. Minute details of what they experience are part of a colorful and stimulating description. There is an endless number of contrasts and dissimilarities concerning people as individuals, but also as society the way it is being depicted. Micro life is a reflection replicating macro, several characters are set as marginal and contrasting, and the surrounding society is a non-descript horde.

The language is fluent, inviting to pursue reading. Protagonists are so designed that the reader recognizes them and identifies with them, albeit there is an intriguing, enigmatic facet that persists.  For instance, the following sentence in the story after which the book is named, “At night, in my bed, I think about the tattoo on Elizabeth’s upper thigh” makes the reader ponder “What is that tattoo?”, a question that will remain unanswered. Secondary characters pop up in the course of the stories, adding brushstrokes that put a finishing touch to the picture.

Each story is a standalone item, but the collection gathers the episodes in several manners. The stories have a thematic coherence. Together, they blend to create a colorful mosaic of mixed neighborhood life which goes on, in typical Haifa coexistence. There is another thread linking the stories together, the cats. "The neighbor calls them to come over" at the opening of the collection of stories. And it seems that the cats do respond to her call, as they keep appearing in some of the stories until, in the epilogue, "the neighbor no longer calls the cats to come over".

The title of the book cleverly combines the contrasting concepts of "cut" and "seam". This contrast refers primarily to the cut that could not be sewn in Sally’s head, the heroine of the story, yet also alludes, metaphorically, to the cuts and stitches in the urban fabric of Haifa.

The fact that the stories deal, boldly and in fairly accessible language, with charged and sensitive topics such as suicide, sexual fantasies, lesbian relationships, political violence, and other complex issues should be noted.

Thanks to these features, the book "Cut at the Seamline" is deserving of this award by the Haifa Cultural Foundation.

• Zvika Sternfeld for “The Cyclops’ Second Eye” (Poetry)

The book of poems "The Second Eye of the Cyclops" brings us a cynical view of life, accompanied by humor. The word "Cyclops" leads us to Greek mythology, and the disparity between the legendary nature of the Cyclops and the reality depicted in the poems sharpens the message conveyed by these poems. The one-eyed imaginary character from the Odyssey invites readers to open their other eye, that is, not to pass by life, but to try to decipher it.

The main theme of this collection of poems is aging, growing old. With a philosophical eye, the author looks at life and at his own place in it, while having a dialogue with age. The speaker shows senescence, the human maturation process, in brilliant and unique ways. For example, in the poem "Merotz Shlichim – Messenger Race" the pains of the body are personified: "My pains in a messenger race. / Handing over to each other / organs, / corners of the body / and whispers." In the poem "Zikna – Old Age" the speaker falls asleep during the haiku.

The poem "My wife thinks I'm slower than I used to be. / ‘But seeds, I say, / ‘Seeds I crack at the same speed, / ‘drip eye drops with skill / ‘and swallow medicine in a hurry. / ‘It's true that my dreams are heavy and ambitious / ‘but hence the claim that I'm slow... / ‘Recently I've even been hurt fast."

In some of the poems there is acceptance –with the summer you can see it [...]. It is an invitation to look in the mirror, to meet ourselves and to recognize our limitations. These poems lead the readers to accept reality and reconcile with its ways.

In other poems there is actually a clash with reality, and a refusal to accept it. Thus, in the poem "Methuselah" [...] it seems that the poet challenges life, and as if saying to it: I’m going to show you, you will not overpower me!

The language of the poems is rich in original, picturesque, even profuse with surprisingly suggestive images. The language makes the images of the poem more precise, and depicts life in its depths in an authentic, sensitive and accessible way. The collected poems turn everyday details into high-level poetry, and manage to excite and touch the challenges of life and human existence. Therefore, the book “The Second Eye of the Cyclops" was found worthy of a grant from the Foundation.

 .

Right to Left: Poet Zvika Sternfeld, writer Zvia Fuhrer, Mayor Dr. Einat Kalisch Roten, and CEO of the Foundation Mrs. Aviva Shpigelstein

• Varda Samuels for “Triangular Hearts”, Debut author (Poetry)

 The collection of poems "Triangular Hearts" is divided into five chapters: The first part - "Night Songs" deals with relationships and love. The second part – “Poems from the Open Aperture" looks at the world through the eyes of a professional photographer. "Tall Trees", the third part, is composed of intertextual poems, which carry a correspondence with several poets, sometimes directly and sometimes implicitly. The fourth part, which is entitled "When they ask to go out" contains ars poetica poems, and the last part "Setting Clocks" deals with time, and its poems touch on pain, separation and longing. Each of these poetry chapters brings a different view of the world, and in all of them there is openness and attention to sounds and sights.

The language of the poems is fluid, and a sensitivity to the Hebrew language is evident. Some of the poems partially rhyme, in other poems wordplays are achieved through puns, interchangeable letters and meanings, invented phrases, figures of speech and metaphors such as "a sunset of peaches" and "the pinch of life". The pain that arises from many of these poems is sometimes accompanied by a smile of thin and bitter humor. Such is the case with Heavy Vardoosh who, "for every kilo she loses / two tons are added to her soul". It is impossible not to fall in love with this Vardoosh, trapped between body and soul.

In her poems, the author succeeds in bringing to us herself and her feelings, "open wounds and blows", alongside "unimaginable beauty and longing, / colors and smells, a bird in flight." Although this is a debut book, there is great maturity in the poems, and it is clear that they were written by a skilled and mature hand. Everything that has been said so far, as well as the Haifa landscape that is present in some of the poems, make the book worthy of this Debut Grant of the Haifa Cultural Foundation.