"A very long time ago - two days ago -   there was a country..."

Orly Castel-Bloom defies gravity. Her work approaches theatre: the alienation of Brecht, scenery by Camus. We revisit The Myth of Sisyphus where "there is only one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide".

Born in 1960 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Castel-Bloom "built her reputation with portraits of failing relationships and flights of dystopian fantasy. These set her apart from the social engagement and naturalism of her predecessors". Who is responsible? The spell casts a plague on all houses.

"Many Israelis fell ill with the Saudi flu that winter, and some died of it. The flu also infected the inhabitants of the Palestinian Authority, and there too, many people died. Sometimes the illness and the severe cold brought fighters on both sides to their knees, and created the illusion of a ceasefire."

Her work includes Hostile Surroundings, Dolly City, Unbidden Stories, The Mina Lisa,
Taking the Trend, Free Radicals and Human Parts.

Orly Castel-Bloom lives in Tel Aviv.