| Rafi Zabor | |
| Birth Name: | Joel Zaborovsky |
| Birth Date: | 22 August 1946 |
| Occupation: | Novelist, music critic |
| Nationality: | American |
| Alma Mater: | Brooklyn College |
| Notableworks: | The Bear Comes Home |
Rafi Zabor (born Joel Zaborovsky,[1] August 22, 1946)[2] is a Brooklyn, New York–based music journalist- and musician-turned-novelist.
A graduate of Brooklyn College, Zabor became a jazz critic for Musician in 1977, and later became an editor for the magazine.
He received the 1998 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his first novel, The Bear Comes Home, which follows an alto saxophonist – who happens to be a bear – in his pursuit of musical perfection.[3]
Zabor's second book, the memoir I, Wabenzi, was commercially unsuccessful and met with mixed critical response.[4]
In 2008, Zabor received an NEA Literature Fellowship.
, he was reportedly working on a new novel, to be titled The Bosphorus Dogs.[5]
Zabor is also a jazz drummer.