person or book cover
By permission of the author
Lee Kofman Lee Kofman i(A81949 works by)
Born: Established: 1973 Siberia,
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Russia,
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Former Soviet Union,
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Eastern Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Female
Arrived in Australia: 2000
Heritage: Jewish ; Russian
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BiographyHistory

Lee Kofman comes from a family of orthodox Jewish Russian 'refuseniks'. She emigrated from Russia to Israel in 1985, and then to Australia in 2000. Kofman has completed a masters in creative writing at the University of Melbourne. In 2004 she received an Australia Council grant and in 2005 she was awarded the Varuna Eric Dark Flagship Fellowship to write her first book in English. (She has also published three works of fiction in Israel, in Hebrew: Scars, 1994; Single Woman, 1999; and I Will Love Christina) In 2007 Kofman was Writer in Residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre, Western Australia. In the same year she received an Australian Society of Authors mentorship, a Varuna Pathways Masterclass Award and a Booranga Writers' Centre Fellowship.

Kofman's work has been published in Australian Jewish News, the Israeli literary magazine Moznayim and various Australian journals.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Author writes in these languages: ENGLISH, HEBREW

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Split : True Stories of Leaving, Loss and New Beginnings Edgecliff : Ventura Press , 2019 15932001 2019 anthology essay autobiography

'In this compelling anthology of personal essays, curated by award-winning author Lee Kofman, some of Australia’s most beloved writers reveal, for the first time, powerful, occasionally funny and often heartbreaking stories of significant endings and their aftermath.

'Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project, shares how he discarded his past – perhaps autistic – self, while comedian Sami Shah writes about his public split from Islam, the religion of his birth. Ramona Koval delves into the bittersweet end to her career at the ABC and Fiona Wright explores how her anorexia has affected her romantic relationships. Whereas Kate Holden suggests that for some, splitting – whether from memorabilia, books or lovers – is unimaginable.

'Join eighteen acclaimed storytellers in their candid and courageous reflections on the intrinsic human experience of loss and leaving, that acknowledge the price we can often pay for a much-needed end, or new beginning.' (Publication summary)

2020 longlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
y separately published work icon Imperfect Mulgrave : Affirm Press , 2019 15392380 2019 single work autobiography

'By the time she was eleven and living in Russia, Lee Kofman had undergone several major operations on both a defective heart and injuries sustained in a bus accident. Her body harbours a constellation of disfiguring scars that have shaped her sense of self and her view of the world. But it wasn't until she moved from the Soviet Union to Israel and later Australia that she realised these markings weren't badges of honour to flaunt but were, in fact, imperfections that needed to be concealed.

'In a seductive mix of memoir and cultural critique, Kofman casts a questioning eye on the myths surrounding our conception of physical perfection and what it's like to live in a body that deviates from the norm. She reveals the subtle ways we are all influenced by the bodies we inhabit, whether our differences are pronounced or noticeable only to ourselves. She talks to people of all shapes, sizes and configurations and takes a hard look at the way media and culture dictates how bodies should and shouldn't be.

'By turns illuminating, confronting and deeply personal, IMPERFECT challenges us all to consider how we exist in the world and how our bodies shape the people we become.'  (Publication summary)

2019 winner 'The Nib': CAL Waverley Library Award for Literature Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature The Alex Buzo Shortlist Prize
2019 shortlisted Mark and Evette Moran Nib Award for Literature
Last amended 25 Jun 2018 13:06:48
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