Keren Pevzner

Keren Pevzner (Hebrew: ‏קרן פבזנר‏‎, née Kira Gennadievna Konovalova; born May 8, 1961, in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR) who also goes by the pen name Katerina Vrublevskaya as vintage crime fictions author, is an Israeli novel and essay writer, Hebrew and computer science teacher, translator, author of a number of textbooks, cookbooks, and encyclopedias, and blogger. In the past, she was the Coordinator in the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, as well as in the Social and Economic Development Program in Israel.

Keren Pevzner
Website
www.kameshek.com

Biography

Kira Konovalova was born on May 8, 1961, in Baku. She comes from an old family of Bakuvian oil engineers. Her great grandfathers were European specialists (the Jews and the Germans) who participated in the conducted by Branobel Caspian oil-field development, at the invitation of Zeynalabdin Taghiyev. One of them, Johann (Ivan Aleksandrovich) Maderwax worked together with a German mining engineer Gustav Wilhelm Richard Sorge, the father of renowned soviet spy Richard Sorge. Later, he took a job with the Caspian Steamship Company. In 1938, he fell victim of the Great Purge (Stalinists repressions) and was executed.

Kira attended the 20th Secondary School in Baku, then she went to Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University where earlier have studied her grandmother and both parents, and graduated with a specialty of Electrical Engineer. After graduation, she was taking a position in the AzerElectroTherm Research and Production Association (Russian: НПО «АзерЭлектроТерм»).

Keren repatriated to Israel in 1990, together with her second husband and her eldest son. She tried her hand at a great number of trades from a kibbutz worker and grocery store owner to Hebrew language teaching and employment with the Ministry of Absorption Israel. Currently, she resides in Ashkelon, and as her primary occupation engages in teaching at the Сollege of Computer science for public jobholders in Israel. Additionally, Keren busies herself with educational literature writing and publishing.

As a delegate, she was present at the Conference of the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship Society.

From 2008, Keren writes the "Culinary commentary" column on Booknik, the Web resource and publication in Russian on Jewish literature and culture.

Under the pen name "Kirulya of Ashkelon" (Russian: Кируля Аскалонская) is blogging on LiveJournal.

She also has a blog on TikTok.

Keren has two sons and two granddaughters.

Works

According to her own story, Keren undertook her first attempts in writing at around eight years old.

Keren Pevzner's first published book (1997, Miry Publishing Company) was The Parallel Ulpan, a Hebrew self-teaching guide in two volumes. She wrote it for two years on the suggestion from the writer Daniel Kluger who has attended her course. This book effectively carved out a niche of textbooks for self-teaching written in plain language for Russian-speaking repatriates (afterward, as well as for Hebrew self-study in Diaspora, for example in Russia and in Canada), and ever since it went through eleven editions at least.

Keren's first work of fiction was a crime story, The Murderer's Confession. It was written in 1999 and was published the same year in The Iskatel Magazine.

Cumulative bibliography

Fictional works

Crime Fictions

Crime fiction series of Valeriya Vishnevskaya (were published in Iskatel and Iskatel's World Magazines):

• the novel, The Murderer's Confession (Исповедь убийцы) — Iskatel Magazine, 3-1999.
• the story, The Real Estate Tax (Налог на недвижимость) — Iskatel's World Magazine, 6-1999.
• the story, The Purely Jewish Murder (Чисто еврейское убийство) — Iskatel Magazine, 10-1999.
• the story, The Pilgrim's Death (Смерть пилигрима) — Iskatel Magazine, 1-2000.
• the story, The Saxofonist's Death (Смерть саксофониста) — Iskatel's World Magazine № 4 за 2000 год.
• the story, Her Last Cruise (Её последний круиз) — Iskatel's World Magazine № 10 за 2001 год.
• the story, The Lamp of Pharaoh (Светильник фараона) — Iskatel Magazine № 2 за 2004 год.
• the story, Seeking Out/In Search of a Golem (В поисках Голема) — (2004).

Vintage Crime Fiction Novels of Apollinariya Avilova

• The Apollinariya Aviliva's First Case (Первое дело Аполлинарии Авиловой) — Prosodiya Publishing Company (2002, 50.000 copies). Later, the novel was reissued in Book Club 36,6 Publishing Company in Crime Fiction by Woman’s Pen series (2005, 5.000 copies, ISBN 5986970152).
• The Case of Lost/Vanished Talisman (Дело о пропавшем талисмане) — Prosodiya Publishing Company (2003, 50.000 copies, ISBN 5835800096). Reissued in Book Club 36,6 Publishing Company (2006, 5.000 copies).
• The Case of Antique Portrait (Дело о старинном портрете) — Book Club 36,6 Publishing Company (2006, 5.000 copies, ISBN 5986970284).
• The Case of Rubies of Queen of Sheba (Дело о рубинах царицы Савской) — was issued together with the novel The Crown/Tiara of King Saitafern by Boris Vorobyov in World Classic series (Iskatel's World) in Iskatel Publishing Company (2006, 2700 copies, ISBN 5894870135). Later, the novel was issued in Ivrus Publishing (Tel Aviv, 2008).

Science fiction

• Windy City (Город Ветров) — Miry Publishing Company (Jerusalem, 2000).

Collections of op-ed essays

• Notice to a Beginning Mistress/Concubine… and all sorts of odds and ends (Памятка начинающей любовнице… и всякая всячина)
• Keren Spins Yarns… (Studies of Life, Love, and Faraway Lands) (Керен рассказывает… (этюды о жизни, любви и дальних странах))

Books of Specialized Subjects

(by default, all the books were issued by SeferIsrael, Tel Aviv)

Hebrew and Israeli records management textbooks, phrasebooks, language for specific purposes/subject oriented/specialized dictionaries (Russian↔Hebrew)

• Self-teaching textbook The Parallel Ulpan (Параллельный ульпан), ISBN 9657197090 — the original edition of 1997. It went through eleven editions at least. Since the third edition, was enhanced with the second volume in the form of reading-book under the editorship of Prof. Baruh Podolskiy. The total print is 22.000 copies at least.
• May I Ask (Позвольте спросить) phrasebook — Miry Publishing Company (1998), reissued by SeferIsrael in 2003 (ISBN 9657197112) and 2009.
• The Mini Sihon (Mini Сихон) phrasebook (ISBN 9789657197127, 2004)
• The Super Sihon (Super Сихон) phrasebook (ISBN 965-7197-00-7) under the editorship of A.Solomonik; by the year 2009 went through six editions.
• The Electrician Dictionary (2010)
• The Programmer Dictionary (2010)
• The Accountant Modern Dictionary
• The Musical Dictionary
• Please Meet the FORM (practical suggestions/tips) (ISBN 9657197074; two issues in 2002 and 2010)
• Please Meet the FORM (practical suggestions/tips) (two issues)
• Microsoft WORD In Hebrew And In Russian (2012)

The Popular Encyclopedies

• The Jewish Names (2002, ISBN 9657197066)
• Israeli Fish Dishes (2007, ISBN 9657197414)
• The Israel Healthful And Kitchen Herbs encyclopedia (seven issues, ISBN 9657197228)
• Israeli Salads (three issues, ISBN 9657197376)
• Israeli Juices (2009, ISBN 9657197457)
• How They Eat in Israel? (Как едят в Израиле?) (2010, ISBN 9657197481) — the collection of essays originally published at the «Booknik»

External links

• Official website

Book reviews

• Groman, Shlomo (2002-03-31). ""Еврейские имена" - новая книга Керен Певзнер" [review of 1st edition of the dictionary "Jewish names"] (in Russian). Vesti Newsletter. Archived from the original on 2002-05-10.
• Groman, Shlomo (2002-10-17). ""Провожают по уму, встречают… по письму." (review of 1st edition of the dictionary "Please Meet the FORM")" (in Russian). Weekly News («Новости недели»).
• "Review of detective "The Apollinariya Aviliva's First Case"". knigoboz.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2011-10-20.
• Panteleeva, Ekaterina (2006). ""О старом — модно" (general review of books by K. Vrublevskaya "The Apollinariya Aviliva's First Case" and "The Case of Lost/Vanished Talisman"". "Book Review" newspaper (in Russian) (4).

Interviews

• Basinsky, Pavel (2006-02-10). ""Проза — женского рода". Интервью с Катериной Врублевской". Rossiyskaya Gazeta — Nedelya (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2006-02-10.
• Ulanova, Anna (2006-02-15). ""Акунин в юбке. Почему Катерину Врублевскую потянуло на ретро". Интервью с Катериной Врублевской". Vechernyaya Moskva (in Russian).
• Alioglu, Seymur (2009-05-31). "Bakıda gülən adama axmaq kimi baxırlar". Bizim Yol (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on 2009-05-01.