Yakov Azriel was born in New York in 1950.  After receiving his BA in English literature from Brooklyn College (summa cum laude) in 1971, he moved to Israel.  He later completed an MA and doctorate in Judaica.

Yakov Azriel's first full length book of poems, Threads From A Coat Of Many Colors: Poems On Genesis, published by Time Being Books in 2005, is structured as a running commentary on the Book of Genesis, and is now a candidate for three literary prizes in the USA (including the National Jewish Book Award for poetry).  In Israel, it has been nominated for the President's Prize for Literature, which is one of Israel's most prestigious literary awards.  Time Being Books plans to publish another four volumes of Yakov Azriel's poetry over the next few years in a series in which each volume contains poems based on a different book of the Bible.

Since Yakov Azriel began publishing his poems in 2000, over 70 of his poems on Biblical and Jewish themes have been published in journals in the US, the UK, Israel and in electronic journals.  Nine of his poems have won prizes in international poetry competitions, among them First Prize Recipient in the 2004 Miriam Lindberg Israel Poetry for Peace Prize, 2004 Honorable Mention in the annual contest sponsored by Poetica, and Semi-Finalist in the 2005 Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry sponsored by NIMROD Magazine. In addition, he was awarded a fellowship from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture in 2004-2005 for his poetry.

"Abraham's Mother" and "Joseph in the Pit" are from Threads from a Coat of Many Colors: Poems on Genesis, by Yakov Azriel. Reprinted by permission of Time Being Books. Copyright © 2005 by Time Being Press.