Shelfies #40: Guy Hasson

I am a third-generation author in my family. I’d like to talk about that legacy that’s hidden within my bookshelves.

My grandfather, Isaac Hasson, began writing and publishing books when he was 70 years old. Back in the 80’s, at the end of my day at the university, I would walk to his and my grandmother’s home (she’s still alive today, 101 years old, and living in the same apartment), and type his handwritten pages into the Einstein word processor. He couldn’t figure out computers.

His book was a myth-destroying and brutally honest autobiography called The Old Man and Me, about his teenage days joining the Resistance against the British Mandate in Israel (then called ‘British Palestine’) to fight for Jewish/Israeli independence. It follows him through the days of being a new recruit, to actually starting the Intelligence agency in the Lehi (a resistance organization), to the War of Independence, and how he built his life once he left the Resistance. 

The young man of the book (‘Me’ in the title) faces off against his present self (the ‘Old Man’) who had later become an advocate for peace, human rights, freedom of religion, and atheism, and calls his young self a terrorist. The young man is not happy with the old man.

I could write a whole, separate article about this book. But I’ll just say that the honesty in it is so brave it will always be a beacon of inspiration for me about the importance of honesty in art.

He followed this book with three satirical books of short myths in the style of Arab myths, about ‘Salomon’, a character who has many adventures with superstitions, religions, God, death, ghosts, etc. I liked those stories so much I’d adapted it to the theater to create a one-woman storytelling show, Salomon’s Stories.

His last book that’s on my shelves is Grampa Itzik’s Stories, a collection of stories he used to write for children and teen magazines. These are true stories of his life, transformed into lessons about war, peace, and human rights.

Next in this generational legacy are books written by his son, my father. 

Teeth Stories carries the credit of my father, Oren Hasson, and my brother, 14 years younger than me, Hilaf Hasson, who was five years old at the time. 

Back when he was five, Hilaf really didn’t like to brush his teeth. So my father used to tell him a different story about a different tooth every day as he brushed Hilaf’s teeth. Then Hilaf would change the ending to something he liked better. My father collected the stories, the dialogue, the changes, and put them together in a book, published as Teeth Stories, for young children. 

A few years later my father wrote his second book that’s on my shelves, What is a Rhyme?, which is a very smart, funny, and fun story for kids about a boy who wants to understand how to rhyme. While he is frustrated and confused by his inability to rhyme, almost everything he says comes out as a rhyme without him being aware of it.

I’ve read it to all three of my daughters, and they all enjoyed their grandfather’s story. Just a few months ago, my father came as a guest to my youngest daughter’s third grade class, and read the book to them. She was so proud and happy. 

These are the legacy books on my bookshelves, but it’s not the end of the legacy. My brother and sister are both very talented writers, yet I’m the only one impractical enough to choose to be an author. Just recently my sister sent me a story she’d written, based on, inspired by, and written for one of her sons and other kids like him. Any of the greatest authors you or I have read would be proud to have written that short story.

If you want to know more about what it feels like to have a legacy of writing, I created a documentary video that shows how three fairy tales my father wrote to me when I was two impacted my life, and, later on, subconsciously inspired me to write a series of books about and for my daughters.

I’ve already exceeded by 200 the number of words asked from me for this article, so off I go to continue working on a short story, inspired by my youngest daughter when the two of us went to look for puddles to jump into after the rain just a few weeks ago. It is called “The Puddle Hunters” and should be finished in a couple of days.

Guy Hasson is an Israeli author who publishes in English and Hebrew. In English his books include Secret Thoughts and The Emoticon Generation. In Hebrew, he’s published Hatchling, Life: The Video Game, Secret Thoughts, and Tickling Butterflies. His short stories have been translated to 11 languages. Two of his short stories have won the Israeli Geffen Award for Best Short Story of the Year, and another, translated to Russian, won Best Translated Short Story of the Year.

His latest book in English, The Forgotten Girl, is the first in the Lost in Dreams fantasy book series, based on his 3 daughters and written for them. 

Shelfies is edited by Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin. For more Shelfies, please join us on Instagram at @shelfiesplease.