The Hangover - by Etgar Keret > Tablet Magazine

In this World Cup, I saw increasing numbers of despondent people who embraced this much-loved, sweaty, and extremely unrefined sport not out of deep affection but out of the profound fear of being stuck with the unpleasant alternative - the world we live in.

Etgar Keret on Harvey Pekar's demise:

I've had a speaking event with Harvey Pekar in the Jewish museum in Sf less
than three months ago. It was the first time we've met but reading some of
his biographical comics I've felt I knew a lot about the guy. I was tired
and jetlagged but Pekar was super energetic and curious and funny, and I
thought to myself that all these age issues are so irrelevant. Here we are a
tired elderly forty two years old writer from Israel and a young seventy
plus comics' artist from Cleveland sit together before their event.
Yesterday night I've heard he died. I'm glad I've had the chance to meet
this guy for a strange evening I'll never forget.

Yours, Insincerely - by Etgar Keret > Tablet Magazine

Before I started publishing books, I wrote dedications only in the ones I bought to give as gifts to people I knew. Then one day I suddenly found myself signing books for people who'd bought them themselves, people I'd never met before. What can you write in the book of a total stranger who might be anything from a serial killer to a Righteous Gentile?"In Friendship," borders on falsehood; "With Admiration," doesn't hold water; "Best Wishes" sounds too avuncular; and "Hope you enjoy my book!" oozes smarm from the capital H to the final exclamation point. So, exactly 18 years ago, on the last night of my first Book Week, I created my own genre: fictitious book dedications.

פרוייקט "הארץ" של הסופרים | מצא את האשמים

אתגר קרת ניסה לשאול מי אחראי למחדל הפשיטה על המשט. כל מה שמתואר כאן קרה באמת

With officials mum, journalists are told: Just watch the faces - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Well, the thing is," the editor responded, "[Barak] would love to answer, but it's impossible because there's noise in the helicopter .... But his aide says you can write down your impressions. You know, of the view, his facial expressions. We understand this isn't a lot, but it's still information. You can observe and interpret for our readers whether he looks more determined or more guilty

True story. I kid you not.

Up in the Air - by Etgar Keret > Tablet Magazine

The maxim that flying time is wasted time liberates me from my anxieties and guilt feelings, and it strips me of all ambitions, leaving room for a different sort of existence. A happy, idiotic existence, the kind that doesn't try to make the most of time but is satisfied with merely finding the most enjoyable way to spend it.

Idol Worship - by Etgar Keret > Tablet Magazine

Throughout that long journey, I never got to be more than just a little of what my brother was, and at some point I guess I even stopped trying. Partly because my brother's strange route was a very difficult one to follow and partly because I've had my own personal crises and confusions to deal with.

Call and Response - by Etgar Keret > Tablet Magazine

Being polite to telemarketers can land you in the grave

Fat Cats - by Etgar Keret - Tablet Magazine

Ehud Olmert [accused of graft] , like the author's son, believes in the feline defense: "I'm a cat, not a regular person, and the rules don't apply to me"

Middle East quagmire had another good year -- Etgar Keret for latimes.com

The rules were simple: People placed bets on where the next attack in Israel would take place. If you got it right, you could make a killing.

A Christmas card from Etgar Keret
English translation by Sondra Silverston
Swedish translation by Nina Lekander

Happy holidays

Keret interviews Israeli minister of defense Ehud Barak

You know there is a never-ending debate over the question of whether Netanyahu has really changed. What is your opinion?
Barak gave vent to a morose sigh, like those he attached in his speech to the word "opportunity," and then continued with a warm smile, almost heartwarming.
"Tell me," he said, "have you changed?"

Nextbook: Etgar Keret: Money Pit

"... There are only a few winners in this conflict, and I'm one of them. Here, look." He pushed his BlackBerry at me. "Oil options went up seven dollars. I'm the man. And maybe you too can come out of this thing with a few shekels from some op-ed piece ..."

Matchstick War - Meeting a Childhood Friend During Missile Strikes in Israel, Again - NYTimes.com

He explained to us that the museum had originally been devoted to weapons alone, but after he was convicted of stealing grenades for the exhibition, he took advantage of his eight-month sentence to build the Eiffel Tower and the guitar and added them to the collection

Middle East 'proportionality' - Etgar Keret - Los Angeles Times

Early in the aerial bombing of Gaza, five young girls from the same family were killed, and many more children have died on both sides of the border in recent years. The attempt to introduce their bodies into an equation that would make their deaths justifiable or comprehensible might be necessary to influence current events, but it is still enraging

Keret's "Citizen K": Just Another Sinner

Someone who creates without support or reinforcement, who can write only after working hours, surrounded by people who aren't even sure he has talent, will always remember that truth. The world around him just won't let him forget it. The only kind of writer who can forget it is a successful one, the kind who doesn't write against the stream of his life, but with it, and every insight that flows from his pen not only enhances the text and makes him happy, but also delights his agents and his publisher.
Damn it, I forgot it.

Crime and Israeli army punishment

... as if the murderer had said, "OK, I accept the fact that slaughtering my wife in front of my kids wasn't really right, but to handcuff me for it, to take me to court and send a TV crew? Don't you think you're overdoing it a little?" ...

By Etgar Keret, translated from Hebrew by Sondra Silverston, LA times printed edition, August 13, 2008

Nextbook: Chaos Theory:

During the meal, one successful documentary director asked me a question: Could I think of any Hebrew words that have no equivalents in English? An excellent question, and even though I was sure there were many such words, the only two I could think of actually do have English equivalents, except that in Hebrew—or maybe it would be more accurate to say "in Israeli"—they carry completely different values.

Listen to a telephone radio talk between Etgar Keret and Samir El-Yousef at radioopensource.org during the Israel/Lebanon war of 2006.

Stupor in our time (NY Times / pen.org)

My Lamented Sister (Nextbook)