Malka Locker (1887–1990; ; ) was a Ukrainian-born Israeli

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, writing primarily in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

Biography

Malka Locker was born in 1887 in

Kuty KUTY (1470 AM, "Hermosa 1470") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Palmdale, California, United States and serves the Antelope Valley area. The station is owned by High Desert Broadcasting LLC and broadcasts a regional Mexican fo ...

, known in Yiddish as Kitev, a town in what was then the

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia in Eastern Europe. The Cr ...

, now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. She came from a long line of rabbis, and education was important to her family, with Malka receiving a secular education as well as a Yiddish one. She went on to learn German, French, and English, as well as Polish, Ukrainian, and Hebrew. In 1910, she married the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

activist

Berl Locker Berl Locker (; 27 April 1887 – 1 February 1972) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. Biography Born in in Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine), Locker was educated at a Jewish school. In 1902 he began contributing to the ''Der Yidisher Arb ...

, who was her cousin. The couple traveled the world together, spending a decade living in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from 1938 to 1948. They permanently settled in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1948, having first spent time in then-

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

in the 1930s. Locker is best known for her work as a poet, but she did not begin writing poetry until she was 42 years old. She began writing on the suggestion of a friend, who had identified a "poetic quality" in her correspondence. As she began to publish poems in the 1930s, her work received some notice from Yiddish critics. She published at least six books of poetry, beginning with ''Velt un mentsh'' ("World and Man") in 1931. Subsequent collections included ''Du'' ("You") in 1932; ''Shtet'' ("Cities"), about London, in 1942; and ''The World Is Without a Protector: 1940–1945'' in 1947. While she wrote primarily in Yiddish, she also published one book of poems in German, and her writing was also translated into Hebrew and French. Locker also produced various works of literary criticism, with a focus on French romantic and symbolic poetry, including a 1965 book on

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

, a 1970 biography of

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

, and a 1976 biography of

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

. She was also a composer, notably writing the choral works "Luekh trts"v" and "Luekh trts'kh" in 1938, and would sing in Yiddish locally and internationally. She died in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in 1990, at age 103.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Locker, Malka 1887 births 1990 deaths People from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Ukrainian women poets Israeli women poets 20th-century Israeli poets Yiddish-language poets Israeli women centenarians Soviet emigrants to Israel Jewish centenarians 20th-century Israeli women writers