Kadia Molodovsky

Kadia Molodowsky (; also: Kadya Molodowsky; May 10, 1894, in Bereza Kartuska, now Byaroza, Belarus – March 23, 1975, in Philadelphia) was a Polish-American poet and writer in the Yiddish language, and a teacher of Yiddish and Hebrew. She published six collections of poetry during her lifetime, and was a widely recognized figure in Yiddish poetry during the twentieth century.

Molodowsky first came to prominence as a poet and intellectual in the Yiddish literary world while living in Warsaw, in the newly independent Poland, during the interwar period. Some of her more playful poems and stories were set to music and sung in Yiddish schools throughout the world. She was also known for novels, dramas, and short stories. In 1935 she emigrated to the United States, where she continued publishing works in Yiddish.

Biography Born in the shtetl of Byaroza-Kartuskaya (now Byaroza), in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Belarus), Molodowsky was educated at home in both religious and secular subjects. and, in 1920, published her first poems, in the Yiddish journal Eygns (Our Own). In late 1952, Molodowsky resigned her editorship of Heym, and she and her husband returned to New York.

Back in 1943, Molodowsky had co-founded the Yiddish journal, (Milieu), in New York, publishing seven issues through 1944;

Poetry collections . Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1927 . Warsaw: Literarishe Bleter, 1933 . Warsaw: Literarishe Bleter, 1935 . Chicago: Farlag L. M. Shteyn, 1937 . New York: Farlag Papirene Brik, 1946 . Buenos Aires: Farlag Poaley Tsion Histadrut, 1965

Works in English translation (or bilingual editions) Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky (1999). Text in Yiddish and English translation, on facing pages. Translated and edited, and with an introduction by Kathryn Hellerstein. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. . Preview online A House with Seven Windows: Short Stories (2006). Translation by Leah Schoolnik, of A Shtub mit Zibn Fentster, first published in 1957. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. A Jewish Refugee in New York: Rivke Zilberg’s Journal (2019). Translation by Anita Norich, of Fun Lublin biz Nyu-york: tog-bukh fun Rivke Zilberg, first published in 1942. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253040756