Hi, Unorthodox producer Josh Cross here.

Israeli novelist Amos Uss died today, December 28th at age 79.

There's no other contemporary Israeli author who was as well known around the world,

and in 2013 he sat down with journalist Daniel Estrin for a wide-ranging conversation that aired on tablet's original

podcast at Vox tablet. We wanted to share that interview with you today.

Hi everyone, welcome back to Box tablet. It's me Sarah Avery. Today we're

sitting down with Amos Oz. There's no other living Israeli author who's as well known around the world as Amos Oz.

Inside Israel, he's one of the country's most respected cultural figures.

He's lived a tumultuous life.

When he was 10 years old, he witnessed the founding of the Jewish state.

When he was 12 years old, his mother committed suicide. When he was was 15 he joined a kibbutz and he changed

his last name to Oz which is Hebrew for strength eventually he left the kibbutz for

the desert because of his son's asthma, but in his newest book of short stories called Between Friends,

he revisits the early years of the kibbutz when the collective farms were still a wild ideological experiment.

Vox tablet contributor Daniel Estrin sat with Ammus O's in his home in Tel Aviv

for a far-ranging discussion about his new book and about his life.

Israel is not a country of celebrity worship, but there's still this aura that surrounds

Amos Oze.

He's a household name in Israel.

And even though he hasn't won the Nobel Prize for literature yet,

he's rumored to be on the short list every year.

You can tell he does his best to protect his privacy in this country of little privacy.

...