Matilda Koen-Sarano

Matilda Koen-Sarano (in Hebrew: מתילדה כהן-סראנו‎), is an Israeli writer, born in Milan, Italy in 1939 to Turkish Jewish parents is one of the most widely known writers in the Ladino language.

Biography

Koen-Sarano was born in Milan in 1939 to a Sephardic family from Turkey. Her grandfather, Moshe, was born in Bergama in 1874. Her parents, Alfredo Sarano and Diana Hadjes, were both born in Aydin. Her father lived in Rhodes until 1925, while her mother in Izmir until 1938, marrying in Milan in 1938. During World War II, the family hid in the Italian mountains from the Nazi persecutions. Her father became the Secretary of the Jewish Community of Milan from 1945 until 1969.[1] She married Aaron Koen and made aliya in 1960.[2]

Career

Matilda studied in the Jewish Community School of Milan, and also studied languages at the Bocconi University in Milan and also Italian literature and Judaeo-Spanish literature and Judaeo-Spanish folklore at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

She made aliyah in 1960. In the summer of 1979, she participated in the seminar for Ladino language radio producers held at Kol Israel. This sparked in her the desire to write in this language and of putting the spotlight on everything she lived by the end of her childhood. In order to achieve this, she started interviewing several people from the Sephardic world to record and keep hundreds of folk tales and traditional stories. Besides, this activity she made her return to the university as a scholar. Then she published her first book of Sephardic folk tales, named Kuentos del Folklor de la Famiya Djudeo-Espanyola (Folk Tales of the Judaeo-Spanish Family) in 1986,[3] in Jerusalem.

In April 2009 she published her most recent book, “Kon bayles i kantes, Sefaradis de dor en dor” (With Dances and Songs, Sephardim from Generation to Generation).[4]

Koen-Sarano has taught Ladino at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev since 1996 and a course for Ladino Teachers, organized by The National Authority for Ladino and its Culture, in Jerusalem since 1998. Also, she writes the Judeo-Spanish News at Kol Israel.[5][6]

Published works

References

  1. ↑ Friend of the Foundation: Matilda Koen-Sarano
  2. ↑ “La guisendera” de Matilda Koen Sarano, en judeoespañol, desde el CIDICSEF de Buenos Aires. Radio Sefarad
  3. ↑ Resume of Matilda Koen-Sarano (in Spanish). Editorial Grijalvo
  4. ↑ El ultimo livro de Matilda Koen-Sarano “Kon bayles i kantes”.Şalom Gazetesi, Turkish Jewish Journal in Ladino
  5. ↑ Friend of the Foundation: Matilda Koen-Sarano
  6. ↑ L’anthologie de comédies judéo-espagnoles de Matilda Koen-Sarano. (in French)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.