Yizhar Smilansky (Hebrew: יזהר סמילנסקי, born 27 September 1916, ied 21 August 2006), better known by his pen name S. Yizhar (Hebrew: ס. יזהר), was an Israeli writer and a great innovator in modern Hebrew literature. His pen name S. Yizhar was given to him by the poet and editor Yitzhak Lamdan, when in 1938 he published Yizhar's first story Ephraim Goes Back to Alfalfa in his literary journal Galleons. From then on, Yizhar signed his works with his pen name.