Gammer Yefim Aronovich (b. 16 April 1945, Orenburg) – prose writer, poet, journalist, playwright, artist, and boxer. Member of the Israeli Unions of Writers, Journalists, and Artists, as well as the international journalism and arts associations under UNESCO.
In autumn 1945, Yefim Gammer settled in Riga. He worked for Riga newspapers Latvian Sailor (Latviyskiy Moryak), Student in Overalls (Student v spetsovke), and for the Siberian newspaper Lenskiye Zori. In the 1960s–1970s, his work appeared in both Russian and (in translation) Latvian in publications such as Rīgas Balss, Soviet Youth (Sovetskaya molodyozh), Padomju Jaunatne, Soviet Latvia (Sovetskaya Latviya), Cīņa, and magazines like Zvaigzne, Liesma, Draugs. He translated poetry by Latvian poets Aleksandrs Čaks, Imants Ziedonis, Ojārs Vācietis, Māris Čaklais, and Jānis Peters, which was published in the same period in Soviet Youth, Soviet Latvia, and others.
Yefim Gammer graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at the Latvian State University. In 1978, he moved to Israel, where he is the executive editor and lead contributor of the radio journal Evening Kaleidoscope, dedicated to literature, art, and sport. He serves on the board of the Jerusalem branch of the Russian-speaking Union of Israeli Writers and is a member of the editorial board for the literary almanacs Literary Jerusalem and Literary Jerusalem Smiles.
He won the 2008 International Bunin Literary Prize (Moscow, silver medal), the 2007 Kind Lyre International Literary Prize (St. Petersburg) in the category of “Fiction – Extended Works”, and the 2005 Russian National Literary Prize Golden Pen of Russia (Moscow) in the category “Prose”, along with winning an international children’s literature competition hosted on the Skazka website. In 2003, he won a Russian journalism competition marking the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg in the “Foreign Russian-Language Media” category.
Yefim Gammer is the recipient of eight Grand Prix awards and thirteen medals from international exhibitions in France organised by the French arts centre Arts-Inter. He has also exhibited internationally in the USA, Australia, and France. His solo exhibitions include: House of Artists, Jerusalem (1988); Nora Gallery, Jerusalem (1988); Latvian Society for Jewish Culture (LOEK), Riga (1992); Jerusalem Municipality (2001); House of Artists, Jerusalem (2002).
His poems, stories, novellas, and novels are published in literary periodicals and online platforms across Israel, the USA, Russia, Latvia, Germany, and France, including Setevaya Slovesnost, Topos, We Are Here, Other Shores, and translated into foreign languages. His work appears in U.S.-based Russian-language almanacs (Vstrechi, Poberezhye), in journals like Slovo/Word, Strelets, New Review, Alef, Iskatel/Adventurer Magazine, and in publications across Western Europe, Latvia, and Russia (Bridges, Real Time, LiteraruS, Russian Writer, Vestnik Evropy, Children of Ra, Ural, Far East, Ecumene, Luch-Keren, Moriah, Day and Night, North, Cucumber, Literary Cubes, Chayan, Detki-74), as well as in the three-volume collection Kind Lyre. His work is also featured in Israeli popular media (Secret, Vesti, News of the Week, Time, Kaleidoscope, Our Country, Jewish Tuning Fork, Aliya), and in anthologies such as Planet of Poets, Year of Poetry, 120 Poets, Babi Yar, In the Years of Storm, Seven Forty, Kingdom of DeTvorinia, and in international Jewish press (Jewish Observer, Ukraine; Jewish Word, Russia; Jewish World, USA). His work has been translated into French and published in the Paris-based journal Russian Literature, among others.
In the early 1990s, according to a survey by the journal Alef, Gammer was recognised as the most popular Israeli writer in Russian-speaking America.
In 1998, Gammer – formerly a champion boxer of Latvia, the Baltic States, and Israel – returned to the Israeli ring at the age of 53. For over a decade, he remained the undisputed champion of Jerusalem, a remarkable achievement worthy of the Guinness Book of Records.
Selected Works:
В прицеле — свастика: Документальная повесть (In the Crosshairs – the Swastika: A Documentary Story). Riga: Liesma, 1974
Там, за горизонтом: Документальная повесть (There, Beyond the Horizon: A Documentary Story). Riga: Liesma, 1976
Магремор: Книга стихов и поэм (Magremor: Book of Poems and Long Poems). Jerusalem, 1981
Круговерть комаров над стоячим болотом: Сборник повестей (The Swirl of Mosquitoes Over a Stagnant Swamp: Collected Novellas). Jerusalem, 1982
Тон: Стихография (Tone: Verse-Graphics). Jerusalem, 1986
Русский батальон: Роман, рассказы (The Russian Battalion: Novel, Stories). Jerusalem: Miry, 1999
Зона забвения: Комедия конца века (Zone of Oblivion: A Comedy of the Century’s End). Jerusalem – Moscow: ERA, 1999
Венок Диаспоры: Стихография (Wreath of the Diaspora: Verse-Graphics). Jerusalem – Rehovot: ASH, 2003
Засланцы, или Тайна последнего скада: Сатирический роман (The Exiles, or The Secret of the Last Skad: A Satirical Novel). Jerusalem – Moscow: ERA, 2005
Танцы на перевернутой пирамиде: Проза ассоциаций(Dancing on the Inverted Pyramid: Associative Prose). Jerusalem – Moscow: ERA, 2006
Один – на все четыре родины: Проза ассоциаций (One – For All Four Homelands: Associative Prose). Jerusalem – Moscow: ERA, 2007
Осужденный на жизнь: Проза ассоциаций. Триптих (Sentenced to Life: Associative Prose. A Triptych). Jerusalem – Moscow: ERA, 2008
Меж потерянных колен: Ироническая проза (Among the Lost Tribes: Ironic Prose). Jerusalem – Moscow: ERA, 2009
Personal website: www.yefim-gammer.com