Miriam Yalan-Shteklis

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Miriam Yalan-Shteklis (1900-1984) (Hebrew: מרים ילן-שטקליס‎) was an Israeli writer and poet famous for her children's books. She won the Israel Prize for Literature in 1956. ^[1] Her surname, Yalan, was an acronym based on her father’s name, Yehuda Leib Nissan.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Literary themes 3 Musical collaboration 4 Published work 4.1 Translated 5 References

[edit] Biography

Miriam Yalan-Shteklis was born in Kremenchug in 1900. She was the daughter of Yehuda Leib Nissan Vilensky, a Zionist leader descended from a long line of rabbis, and learned Hebrew as a child. After the failed Russian Revolution of 1905, the family moved from place to place: Berlin, Minsk, Petrograd, and finally Kharkov. Yalan-Shteklis studied at the University of Kharkov and then the College of Judaic Studies in Berlin. In 1920, she immigrated to Palestine and settled in the Rehavia neighborhood in Jerusalem. In 1928, she went to Paris to study library science. From 1929, she joined the staff of the Jewish National University Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She headed the Slavic department for thirty years. Yalan-Shteklis won the Israel Prize in 1956 for her outstanding contribution to Israeli children's literature. She died in Jerusalem at the age of 84.

[edit] Literary themes

Miriam Yalan-Shteklis used to say that "poems emanate from the suffering soul and like children, they are born in suffering." Orphaned at an early age, her whole life was permeated by sorrow and solitude. She had no children of her own, but spent her days writing poetry for the children of others. Her work is suffused with a deep understanding of the worries, fears and experiences of young children.

[edit] Musical collaboration

Many of her poems were set to music and have become Israeli children's classics. In 1975 Israeli singers Shmulik Kraus and Josie Katz put out an album of songs based on her poems.^[2]

[edit] Published work

• Hurry, Hurry Dwarfs!, 1939 [Atzu Ratzu Gamadim]
• Danny, 1943 [Danny]
• Rain, 1944 [Geshem]
• Tol-Tol and His Sand, 1944 [Tol-Tol Ba'al Ha-Hol]
• The Journey to the Maybe Island, 1944 [Ha-Masah La Ee Ulai]
• The Girl Millik and Aunt Phillik, 1945 [Ma'ase Ba-Yaldah Millik U Ba-Doda Phillik]
• Once There Was a Girl, 1946 [Ma'aseh Be-Yaldah]
• How Songs Come to the Heart, 1947 [Eich Ba'im Shirim Le-Lev Ha-Adam]
• The Story of a Curtain, Paris, 1952 [Ma'aseh Be-Parochet]
• Bimmi, 1953 [Bimmi]
• Birthday, Dvir, 1962 [Yom Huledet]
• Wheels, Hadar 1957 [Galgalim]
• Kid's Song, Dvir, 1958-63 [Shir Ha-Gdi]
• I Have a Secret, Dvir, 1958-63 [Yesh Li Sod]
• In My Dream, Dvir, 1958-63 [Be-Halomi]
• Lie?, Ekked, 1966 [Sheker?]
• Two Legends, Dvir, 1972 [Shtei Agadot]
• Brave Danny and Other Poems, 1975 [Danny Gibor Ve-Shirim Aherim]
• A Paper Bridge, 1978 [Gesher Shel Niyar]
• Life and Words, Kiryat Sefer, 1978 [Hayim Ve-Milim]
• The Soap Cried Loudly, [Hasabon Bakha Me'od]

[edit] Translated

• Selected Poems

French: Jerusalem, Departament de la Jeunesse du Keren Hayesod, 1946 Russian language|Russian]]: Tel Aviv, Am Oved, 1966

• A Paper Bridge

Spanish: Jerusalem, Miriam Yalan-Shteklis & Esther Solay-Levy, 1978

• The Journey to the Maybe Island

Arabic: Jerusalem, Al-Sharq, 1972

[edit] References