Born in Czernowitz Bukhovina, Manger spent his childhood in poverty. His father was a tailor. Manger attended a German volkshul, and a Gymnasie where he studied Goethe and Heine. He was dismissed for bad behavior. His first book was written in Warsaw, Shtern Oifn Dakh , (“Stars on the Roof”) 1928-1938. He was in Paris when Nazis invaded and found his way to London where he worked as a journalist. In 1958 he arrived in Israel and was received with great celebrations. Before he left for Israel he said he had wandered all his life among strangers and now he will wander at home. He died in Tel Aviv in 1969.