He was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1951, and came to Israel as a young child. He has worked with street gangs, taught literature, and currently leads creative writing workshops. Somek is a leading Israeli poet. He began publishing in 1968 at the age of seventeen. He has published 9 volumes of poetry (The last called "The Milk Underground") and a book for children ( "The Laughter Buttom") which he co-authored with his daughter, Shirly. He has been translated into 37 languages. Two selections of his poems have appeared in Arabic translation, one in French (with the exile Iraqian poet- A.K. El-Janabi), one in Catalan, one in Albanian, one in Italian and one in English- "The Fire Stays in Red."