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Yehuda Amichai was born in Wurzburg -Germany, in 1924, to a religious family. In 1935, he and his family moved to Israel. He fought for the British army in World War II, and later joined the Palmach during the War of Independence . Following the war, Amichai attended Hebrew University, studying biblical texts and Hebrew literature. After that, he taught in secondary school. He married Hana Sokolov. Amichai had two sons, Ron and David, and a daughter, Emmanuella.Amichai is known as one of the greatest poets of modern Israeli poetry. His poetry included many changes in the Hebrew language, for example new modern words and figures of speech that did not exist until then. Amichai was known as the poet who "plays with words".
In 1982 he received the Israel Prize for Poetry, Israel's highest honor. Yitzhak Rabin, in his speech accepting the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, read one of Amichai's best known poems, "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children."
Yehuda Amichai was a very prolific writer who published 25 poetry books, 3 children books, 2 novels, short stories and plays. His work has been translated into 37 languages and he was appreciated by all. In Modern Hebrew Literature, No. 13, 1994, pubished in honor of the Amichai's seventieth birthday, Robert Alter stated "that [he] is the most widely translated Hebrew poet since King David." He explained "why Amichai had done so well in translation. First, because he was the kind of modernist who combined freshness of imagination with ease of understanding. Second, he was very successful at using the plain informal style that was a revolution in Hebrew poetry in the 1950s when he began to publish. He was known for taking the language of poetry to the people's level. In addition, English and other Western languages' poetry use similar language.
Memories from his childhood appear in Amichai's work as a look into the "world of peace and innocence". In The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai (revised and expanded in 1996), Chana Bloch states that "What Amichai loves best is the ordinary human being with his pain and his joy." A fellow poet, Ted Hughes, wondered how Amichai has "managed to unlock the human heart" so successfully. In Amichai's poems which speak about an amazing variety of subjects, he relates to the many "gifts as well as the stress and pain of life as an Israeli Jew, the stark interwoven experience of life and death, courage, love and fear, mirrored in-sometimes confused with-each other." (John R. Boettiger)
Although he died in 2000, he still remains Israel's informal poet laureate.
Lena, Rachel and Shira
Selected works:
Achshav Ubayamin Ha'acherim, 1955
Bemerchak Shetey Tikvot, 1958
Bemerchak Hatsiburit, 1959
Baruach Hanora'ah Hazot, 1961 - The World is a Room (and
Other Stories)
Shirim: 1948-1962, 1962 (rev. ed. 1977)
Lo Me'achshav, Lo Mikan, 1963 - Not of This Time, Not of
This Place
Achshav Baraash, Shirim 1963-1968, 1968
Mas'a Leninveh, 1964 (play, prod. Tel Aviv)
Pa'amonim Verakavot, 1966 - Bells and Trains
Paamomin Vrakavot, 1968
Mah She-Karah Le-Roni Bi-Nyu-York, 1968
Selected Poems, 1968 (as Poems in 1969, trans. by
Assia Gutmann)
Mi Yitneni Malon, 1971
Vlo Al Mnat Lizkor, 1971
Selected Poems, 1971
(trans. by Ted Hughes, Assia Gutmann,
and Harold Schimmel)
Songs of Jerusalem and Myself, 1973 (trans. by H. Schimmel)
Me'achorey Kol Zeh Mistater Osher Gadol, 1974
Mas'ot Binyamin Ha'acharon Mitudelah, 1976 - Travels of a Latter-Day Benjamin of Tudela
Hazman, 1977 - Time
Amen, 1978 (trans. by the author and Ted Hughes)
On New Year's Day, Next to a House Being Built, 1979
Shalvah Gdolah, 1980 - Great Tranquillity: Questions and Answers
Love Poems, 1981 (bilingual ed.)
She'at Hachesed, 1982
Great Tranquility: Questions and Answers, 1983 (trans.
by Glenda Abrahamson and Tudor Partiff)
The World Is a Room and Other Stories, 1984
(with a preface by Elinor Grumet)
Me'adam Atah Ve'el Adam Tashuv, 1985
The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai, 1986 (ed. and
trans. by Stephen Mitchell and Chana Bloch,
as Selected Poems, 1988)
Shirey Yerushalayim / Poems of Jerusalem, 1987 (bilingual)
Sefer Halaylah Hagadol, 1988
Gam Ha'egrof Hayah Pa'am Yad Petuchah, 1989 -
Even a Fist Was Once Open Palm with Fingers
(trans. by Barbara Benjamin Harshav)
The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai:
Newly Revised and Expanded Edition, 1996
(trans. by Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell)
Open Closed Open, 2000 (trans. by Chana Bloch and
Chana Kronfeld)
The list of works was taken from the Pegasos Resource site: 
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