Haviva Pedaya was born in Jerusalem and studied at the Hebrew University and the Jerusalem School for Visual Theatre. She currently resides in Old City of Beer Sheva.
Pedaya is a leading scholar and researcher of Jewish Mysticism and Jewish Culture, one of Israei’s preeminent poets, cultural critic and social justice activist. She is a tenured professor of Jewish History and head of the Elyachar center for the study of Spanish and Oriental Jewry at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. In Hebrew she has published the following books: From a Sealed Ark (poetry), 1996; Birthing of the Anima (poetry), 2002; The Eye of the Cat (novel) , 2008; Blood’s Ink (poetry), 2009; Imprints (Novel), 2014; Early and Late (poetry), 2015; Hell Is Paradise in Reverse Gear (poetry), 2016.
She has won the Harry Hershon Prize for Poetry and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1989). For the book From a Sealed Ark she has won The President’s Literary Award (2004) and The Achi Foundation Award (2005). For the book Blood’s Ink she has won The Amichai Award (2012).