Atar J Hadari

Poet

Leeds

United Kingdom

Email:

atarhadari@yahoo.co.uk

Author's Bio

Atar Hadari arrived in England from Asia aged eight and trained as an actor before studying playwrighting with Derek Walcott at Boston University. His plays have won awards from the BBC, Arts Council of England, National Foundation of Jewish Culture (New York), European Association of Jewish Culture (Brussels) and the RSC, where he was Young Writer in Residence. Plays have been staged at Finborough Theatre, Wimbledon Studio Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and West Yorkshire Playhouse. His sit com script ‘Strictly Kosher’ won an Alfred Bradley award from the BBC. His first paid commission was an adaptation of Anski’s ‘The Dybbuk’ developed at Boston Playwrights Theatre. His last production was a radical adaptation of Sholem Asch’s ‘God of Vengeance’ commissioned by the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester and staged at Up Theatre Manhattan as ‘Merciful Father’. He won a Pen Translates award and been short-listed for the American Literary Translators Association award for his translations and won the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute award in 2024 to translate the ‘On the White Road: Selected Poems of Haviva Pedaya’. His latest collection is 'Arik and Company', a documentary poem telling the life of Israel's most controversial Prime Minister in the voices of his wives, friends, rivals and various enemies, not least his predecessors in the office of Prime Minister.

Publications & Prizes

Books:

Arik and Company (Ben Yehuda Press, 2025)

Gethsemane (Shearsman Books, 2023)

Lives of the Dead: Collected Poems of Hanoch Levin (Arc Publications, 2018)

Rembrandt's Bible (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2013)

Songs from Bialik: Selected Poems of H.N. Bialik (Syracuse University Press, 2000)

Prizes won:

Mentor Playwright Mark Taper Forum, LA

Playwright Fellow Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown

New Poet Feature Poetry Review

Playwright Residency University of Cincinnati

New Play Commission National Foundation Jewish Culture

Davidson Rosenberg Prize Poems Jewish Experience

Write Out Loud Award Arts Council of England/BBC

Young Writer Award Royal Shakespeare Company

Arvon Foundation Situation Comedy Residency award

New Play Commission National Foundation Jewish Culture

Alfred Bradley Award BBC Radio – Comedy

New Play Commission European Association of Jewish Culture

Keith Wright Poet Prize University of Strathclyde

Voices Poetry Prize Ways With Words Festival

Tricinium Poetry Prize McDowell Colony

London Writers Competition 2nd Prize Drama Section

Daniel Varoujan Prize New England Poetry Club

Ellen La Forge Prize Grolier’s Book Shop, Harvard

Liverpool Literature Pulp Idol 1st Novel Competition

Petra Kenney Award Highly Commended (Prize)

Writer’s Digest Rhyming Poetry Prize (2nd)

Paumanok Poetry Award 2nd Prize

Brandeis Fiction Award 1st Prize

Omi Writers Translation Lab funded by Amazon

British Center Literature in Translation Hebrew Mentorship

Exiled Writers Ink 2nd Prize Poetry Competition

English PEN Pen Translates Award Hebrew Poetry

Authors Foundation Manuscript Completion Award

Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award

Watch

Gethsemane suite of poems - created and performed by Atar Hadari

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors:

Thomas Hardy, William Shakespeare, Robert Johnson

What I'm reading now:

Ellman's Joyce: The Biography of a Masterpiece and Its Author by Zachary Leader, Rupert Brooke: Life, Death and Myth by Nigel Jones

More Information

Gives readings:

Yes

Travels for readings:

Yes

Identifies as:

Jewish

Prefers to work with:

Any

Fluent in:

English, Hebrew

Born in:

Israel

Raised in:

London

United Kingdom

Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.

Last update: Aug 06, 2025