Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Nava Semel was born 1954 in Yaffo, daughter of Mimi (Margalit) and the late Itzhak Artzi, both Holocaust survivors. She is the younger sister of Israeli Rock star Shlomo Artzi. She has an MA in Art History from Tel Aviv University. She had published sixteen books, plays, opera libretti, poetry and screenplays. Her work focuses on the second generation in Israel. Her characters are native born Israelis who confront their identity issues and deal with the scars of the painful past. Semel also writes plays and translates for the Hebrew stage. Her most acclaimed novel "And the Rat Laughed" was adapted into an opera libretti in 2005.