Poet Erez Bitton has been named as this year’s recipient of the Israel Prize for Literature.

He told Army Radio after the announcement: “At first I couldn’t believe it. I am excited, I am completely moved.”

Born 1942 in Oran, Algeria, Bitton immigrated to Israel in 1948. At the age of 10, he was blinded by a stray hand grenade that he found. He spent the rest of his childhood in Jerusalem’s Institute for the Blind. He earned a degree in social work from Hebrew University and worked as a social worker.

Later in life, he studied psychology at Bar-Ilan University.

Bitton also published a weekly column in the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

His has published five poetry books: “Mincha Marokait” (Moroccan Gift), 1976; “Sefer Hana’na” (Book of Mint), 1979; “Tzipor Bein Yabashot” (Bird Between Continents), 1990; “Timbisert, a Morrocan Bird,” 2009, and “Nofim Havushey Eynayim” (Blindfolded Landscapes).

He is married to Rachel Calahorra Bitton and they have two children.