Oren was born in Tel Aviv in 1950 to a mother who was a school teacher and a father who was a mechanical engineer. His parents met when his father was wounded as a heavy equipment semi- trailer driver in Her Majesty Royal Engineers forces in the Western Desert of North Africa and was hospitalized in military hospital in Beirut, where his mother served as a nurse.
Oren served in the Israel Defense Forces for eight years, first in the Artillery Corps where he fought as a Battery Commander in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and later as an intelligence analyst in the General headquarters, in the rank of Major.
After the historic visit of President Sadat of Egypt in Jerusalem in 1977, he decided to move to Government Service. He joined the Foreign Ministry and was assigned to the Department of Normalization of Relations with Egypt, where he had the privilege not only to meet Sadat, but also to be on a team that gave back to a parallel Egyptian team 16 Bedouin tribes, 16 schools, 16 infirmaries, copper mines, two shrines and one pyramid. Years later he went back to take part in the fragile peace process as a Political Advisor and representative of the Prime Minister (Shamir and Rabin) in peace conferences and meetings in Cairo, Hague, Tokyo and Moscow.
Amongst other posts, Oren served as a consul in New York City. He was later a consul in Boston- where the plot of his book "Dancing Bear" is taking place, a minister in the embassy in Washington and Ambassador in Nigeria. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science and teaching now on Diplomacy, Intelligence and Spins. The three very popular political thrillers he wrote so far (the forth is coming soon) are based on the events, people, intrigues dreams and hopes he encountered during his years in public service around the world.
Oren Sanderson is the pen name of this retired senior government official, who wrote his first books while on service, and had to hide his true name- Itzhak Oren at that time.
