Oscar-winner Natalie Portman is to become the latest young female Hollywood actor to move into directing with a film adaptation of Israeli novelist Amos Oz's memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness.

The book, which has been translated into 28 languages and has sold more than a million copies worldwide, details Oz's childhood in Jerusalem in the chaotic period at the end of the British Mandate for Palestine, as well as the writer's experiences during the early years of the state of Israel and teenage years on a kibbutz. Portman, who was born in Jerusalem to an Israeli father and an American mother, will also take a supporting role as Oz's mother.

Oz told Reuters he had been helping with the film's screenplay and expected Portman to arrive in Israel in September for pre-production. He said the true-life tale was expected to shoot in January 2014.

"She read A Tale of Love and Darkness and asked me for the rights to make a film adaptation around five or six years ago," he said. "I agreed because of my high esteem for her work. She's an excellent actor."

Portman has not yet made any public comment on the project. The 32-year-old won the best actress Oscar in 2011 for her turn as a troubled ballet dancer in Darren Aronofsky's splintered psychological drama Black Swan. She joins a growing list of female Hollywood stars who are venturing behind the camera. Ellen Page is to make her directorial debut next year with Miss Stevens, starring Anna Faris as a teacher chaperoning a mob of high school students to a state drama competition, while Bridesmaids's Melissa McCarthy will co-direct and star in the raunchy comedy Tammy, also next year.