Margalit Matitiahu (; born 1935, in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

) is a poet in Ladino and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

from

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 ...

. After

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, her parents moved to

from

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

where they were

Sephardi Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

who were descendants of Jews from León. She studied

Hebrew Literature Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews, mostly among the Arab cit ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

. She started writing in

and in 1988 she published ''Curtijo Quemado'' (later in ''Vela de luz'') in Ladino, which is a testimony of Nazi destruction. She has worked as a presenter in radio and investigated her mother tongue. She is a member of the World Academy of Art and Culture (having received a doctorate ''Honoris Causa''), of the Israel PEN club and of the

Hebrew Writers Association in Israel The Hebrew Writers Association in Israel (, previously אגודת הסופרים העבריים בארץ ישראל or אגודת הסופרים העבריים or אגודת הסופרים העברים במדינת ישראל) is a professional ass ...

. She has been awarded several prizes: * the 1994 "Fernando Jeno Award" the international prize for Jewish literature giving by the Jewish community of Mexico. * the 1996 "Ateneo de Jaen Award", the international literature prize for poetry in Jaen, Andalucia, Spain. * the 1999 Israeli Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Writers * the 2003 "Poetry Award" the international prize for poetry given by the "Orient-Occident" Academy of Curtea de Arges, Romania Giusepina Gerometa from University of Udine wrote her PhD thesis on ''The poetry of Margalit Matitiahu'' in 2001–2002. This was the first thesis on contemporary modern Sephardic poetry. The second thesis (on translation) was written by Sonja Bertok from University of Trieste in 2003–2004.

Documentary films 2004–2008

*Production of documentary films: The series of "Sefarad Ways and life" *Work with her son Jack Matitiahu – director and photographer of the series. The two films of the series were presented in Israel, Spain, Toronto, Canada, London. The films are: *"Leon reencounter" *"Toledo the hidden secret"

Sample verse

Her works

In Hebrew

*''Through the Glass Window'' (1976) *''No Summer Silence'' (1979) *''White Letters'' (1983) *''Handcuffed'' (1987) *''Midnight Stairs'' (1995) *''To wake the silence'' (2005)

In Ladino

*''Alegrica'' (1993) *''Matriz de luz'' & ''Vela de la luz'' (1997) *''Kamino de Tormento'' (2000) *''Vagabondo Eternel'' & ''Bozes en la Shara'' (2001) *''Canton de solombra'' (2005) *''Asiguiendo al esfuenio'' (2006)

External links

Primary Music
Margalit's Record Label featuring her musical work 'Aromas Y Memorias' {{DEFAULTSORT:Matitiahu, Margalit 1935 births Living people Jews from Thessaloniki Israeli Sephardi Jews Judaeo-Spanish-language poets Israeli people of Greek-Jewish descent Israeli poets Israeli women poets