Sailor in Israel bothered writer (8)
I believe the answer is:
rabelais
'writer' is the definition.
(Renaissance writer Franois Rabelais)
'sailor in israel bothered' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'bothered' indicates an anagram.
'israel' is an anagram of 'relais'.
'ab' inserted within 'relais' is 'RABELAIS'.
(Other definitions for rabelais that I've seen before include "French writer" , "Sixteenth century French satirical author" , "Sixteenth century French author of Gargantua and Pantagruel" , "Creator of Gargantua" , "teller of stories" .)