Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir

Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir publishes Hebrew and translated fiction, nonfiction, poetry, popular science, philosophy, psychology, geography, children's and young-adult books, textbooks, dictionaries, and lexicons.[3] Authors associated with the house include Etgar Keret, Eshkol Nevo, Yuval Noah Harari, Sami Michael, Aharon Appelfeld, Yochi Brandes, and Noa Yedlin.[2] Its company catalog also names A. B. Yehoshua and Yaakov Shabtai, along with translated authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Virginia Woolf, and Gabriel García Márquez.[3]

The publisher is a part-owner of the Tsomet Sefarim bookstore chain, giving it a presence in both publishing and bookselling.[1][6] A 2016 feature identified Eran Zmora and Yoram Roz as the company's co-CEOs.[2]

The oldest component of the group is Dvir, founded by Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Shemaryahu Levin, and Yehoshua Hana Rawnitzki as a successor to the Moriah publishing firm of Odessa. The Encyclopaedia Judaica entry dates its founding to Berlin in 1922 and says it began publishing books in Tel Aviv in 1924; the publisher's English history instead traces its origin to Odessa in 1919 before its later moves to Berlin and Palestine.[5][4] Dvir's program encompassed reference works, dictionaries, anthologies, belles lettres, humanities, sciences, Judaica, and classics of modern Hebrew literature. Its landmark publications included the nine-volume Sefer ha-Mo'adim ("Book of Festivals"), begun in 1956; a vocalized and annotated Mishnah produced with Mosad Bialik; and a Babylonian Talmud edition with a Hebrew translation.[5]

Machbarot La-Sifrut was established by Israel Zmora and is dated to 1939 or 1940 by the publisher's two history pages.[3][4] Zmora-Bitan Publishers was established by Ohad Zmora in 1973; the National Library of Israel records a partnership involving Asher Bitan and Oded Modan and components including Machbarot La-Sifrut, the Marganit series, Modan Publishing, and Bitan Publishing.[7] Zmora-Bitan published original and translated fiction alongside a broad general list.[1] It acquired Dvir and its affiliates Karni and Megiddo in 1986.[4]

Kinneret Publishing House was founded by Yoram and Talma Roz. The publisher's English history dates its founding to 1978, while an encyclopedia entry gives 1979.[1][4] Kinneret became known for children's books, popular fiction, and gift books and was among the early Israeli publishers to develop books with cassettes, board books, and pop-up books.[4]

The modern publishing group emerged through consolidation in the early 2000s, although sources differ on the precise sequence. A 2016 feature describes a 2001 merger involving Zmora-Bitan, Kinneret, and Dvir.[2] A 2008 report dates the merger of Kinneret and Zmora-Bitan-Dvir to 2002.[8] A 2004 profile, written after what it called a merger with Zmora-Bitan the previous year, described the group as comprising Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, and Machbarot La-Sifrut.[9] These accounts may reflect stages of a phased consolidation rather than a single transaction.[2][8]

By 2004, the combined group was reporting annual output of around 250 books.[9] A 2009 interview cited approximately 30 new titles per month.[10] In 2016, the company was reported to employ 70 people.[2]

Bibliographic references document the publisher's role in Israeli security and policy literature. INSS lists Uzi Arad and Limor Ben-Har's 2016 book on the National Security Council under the Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir imprint.[11] It identifies Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf's 2018 The War of Return as a Kinneret Zmora Dvir publication.[12] A later INSS article identifies Uri Bar-Joseph's 2024 Beyond the Iron Wall under the same shortened publisher form.[13] The National Library of Israel records Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, and Dvir as the publisher of Mordechai Gilat's Deri's Curse in 2012.[14]

The house has also published Israeli fantasy and science fiction. Titles listed under its imprint include works by Yali Sobol, Hagai Dagan, Roni Eshkol, Ilan Sheinfeld, and Shimon Adaf. Dagan's Shedim be-rachov Agripas won the 2013 Geffen Prize for best Israeli fantasy or science-fiction novel.[15]

Its nonfiction list includes #IsraeliJudaism: A Portrait of a Cultural Revolution by Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuchs, co-published with the Jewish People Policy Institute, and the heritage volume Homeland Tale: Heritage Sites in the Land of Israel.[16][17] Authors associated with its broader list include Eshkol Nevo, Yuval Noah Harari, Yochi Brandes, Noa Yedlin, Aharon Appelfeld, Sami Michael, and Etgar Keret.[2]

Shmuel Rosner was identified in 2018 as the publisher's chief nonfiction editor.[18]

In 2016, the publisher opened "Beit Ha-Sfarim," a logistics and workplace complex in the Haman industrial park in the Modi'in region.[2] The facility covered approximately 5,500 square metres, with about half devoted to warehousing roughly three million books and the other half to offices, work areas, and shared public spaces. Its warehouse shelving reached about 20 metres, and the project cost was estimated at NIS 25 million.[2]

A display library rose about 14 metres over three floors and presented around 200 books with their covers facing visitors. Inspired by a children's book museum designed by architect Tadao Ando in Iwaki, Japan, it was conceived as a boundary between the logistics operation and the publishing world.[2]

Literary scouts in New York, London, Paris, and Beijing, along with distribution of the company's own books and titles from other publishers, are listed among its operations.[4]

Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir is a part-owner of the Tsomet Sefarim bookstore chain.[1] A 2010 report gave the ownership structure as 33% held by Kinneret-Zmora-Bitan-Dvir, 33% by Modan, and the remaining third by chain CEO Avi Shomer.[6] The competition authority approved a merger involving Kinneret-Zmora-Bitan and Tsomet in 2001, and Modan joined the partnership in 2005.[10]

A 2009 account described the chain as entering the market around 2000 through a merger with three smaller bookstore chains, growing to 77 outlets, and targeting 100 by the end of 2010.[19] Its aggressive price promotions contributed to a price-cutting contest with Steimatzky.[19] The publisher's retail stake prompted industry debate: other publishers and independent booksellers alleged that the chain gave its publishing-house owners preferred placement and promotional treatment, while company executives defended discounting as a way to expand sales volume.[10][6]

In October 2009, Kinneret-Zmora-Bitan-Dvir threatened to stop supplying Steimatzky, alleging that the chain excluded its books from promotions. The dispute was resolved within a day.[6]

The publisher has supported new literary talent through "The Drawer" (Ha-Megireh), a writing school established by Itamar Rose, son of Kinneret founders Yoram and Talma Roz, and his wife, photographer Anna Yam.[20] The initiative was intended to identify and develop writers before their manuscripts were complete. In a 2014 interview, Rose said that 80–90 people were then enrolled and that hundreds had graduated; those figures were reported by Rose rather than independently audited.[20] He also described the school as part of a strategy of publishing more debut literary works than competing houses.[20]

Bibliographic and press sources use several forms of the publisher's name. These include "Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir," "Kinneret Zmora Dvir," and "Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir."[11][12] The genre-fiction titles reviewed by the Jewish Review of Books use the comma-separated form.[15] The sources reviewed do not explain the variation. The publisher's official pages use "Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir" as their primary English rendering.[3][4]