Karen Alkalay-Gut was born March 29, 1945 in London, UK, and she is a poet, professor, and editor who lives in Israel and writes in English. Alkalay-Gut graduated from the University of Rochester, with a BA with honors, and an MA in English literature in 1967. From 1967 to 1970 she taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo before returning to complete her doctorate. In 1972 she immigrated to Israel. She taught at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev from 1972 to 1976. In 1977, Alkalay-Gut began working at Tel Aviv University, where she continued to teach. She is married to Ezra Gut.
In 1980 her first collection, Making Love: Poems appeared with the aid and editorial assistance of poet David Avidan, and she has published over twenty books since. Her poetry has also appeared in Hebrew, French, Arabic, Yiddish, Rumanian, Polish, Russian, German, Turkish, Persian and Italian. Alkalay-Gut has appeared in venues such as the Library of Congress and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the U.N. and the Yale Club of New York City, The Einav Center, Beit Avihai, the Willy Brandt Center, Mishkenot Shaananim and the Writers House in Israel, as well as many universities, churches, synagogues and nightclub around the world.
Alkalay-Gut was awarded the Rubinlicht Prize (2019) for her contribution to Yiddish Literature. In 2018 she was listed by the Jewish Agency for Israel as number 24 of one hundred Jews who moved from Britain to help shape the modern state of Israel. Among her previous awards are the Jewish Agency Award in 1994, and first in the BBC World Service Poetry Award (1990).
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