Miriam Yalan-Shteklis facts for kids

Miriam Yalan-Shteklis (also known as Miriam Yalan-Stekelis) was a famous Israeli writer and poet. She is best known for her wonderful children's books and poems. Her last name, Yalan, was a special short form of her father's name, Yehuda Leib Nissan. She was born on September 21, 1900, and passed away on May 9, 1984.

Her Life Story

Miriam Wilensky was born in a town called Potoki. This town was near Kremenchuk in what was then the Russian Empire. Today, this area is part of Ukraine. Her father, Yehuda Leib Nissan Vilensky, was a leader in the Zionist movement. This movement supported the idea of Jewish people having their own homeland. Miriam learned Hebrew when she was a child.

Moving Around

After a big event called the Russian Revolution of 1905, Miriam's family moved often. They lived in different cities like Berlin, Minsk, and Petrograd. Finally, they settled in Kharkov. When Miriam was 12 years old, her brother Mulya went to study in Ottoman Palestine. He attended the Herzliya Hebrew High School.

Education and Work

Miriam went to high school in Minsk and Petrograd. She later studied psychology and social sciences at the University of Kharkov. She also studied Jewish history and culture in Berlin. In 1920, she moved to Mandate Palestine. This was the area that would later become Israel. She made her home in the Rehavia neighborhood in Jerusalem.

In 1928, Miriam traveled to Paris to study how to organize libraries. A year later, in 1929, she started working at the Jewish National University Library. This library was part of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She led the Slavic department there for 30 years. In the same year, she married Moshe Shtekelis, who was a professor of archaeology. Miriam Yalan-Shteklis passed away in Haifa on May 9, 1984, when she was 83 years old.

Her Writing Career

Miriam Yalan-Shteklis published her very first poem in Hebrew in 1922. In 1933, she started writing poems and stories especially for children. Her work appeared in a children's weekly magazine called Davar Leyeladim. Many of her poems show the sadness she felt after losing her mother at age 16.

Writing for Children

Miriam did not have children of her own. However, she had a special talent for writing for young people. She became Israel's most important children's poet. She believed that "poems come from a soul that has suffered." She also said that "like children, they are born in suffering."

Miriam was different from many other children's writers. She often challenged the idea that every story must have a "happy ending." She wrote about happy children playing, but also about their anger and sadness. Sometimes, she even pointed out when adults were at fault. A famous example is her poem Levadi (All alone), written in 1957.

Translations

Besides her own poems, Yalan-Shteklis also translated many children's books into Hebrew. She translated works from Russian, English, German, and Dutch. Some of the famous authors she translated include Samuel Marshak, Erich Kastner, Leo Tolstoy, and P. L. Travers.

Themes and Style in Her Work

Miriam Yalan-Shteklis's writing teaches good values without sounding like a lecture. Her work combined ideas from Zionist beliefs with traditions from Russian and European literature. Yet, her writing was always fresh, original, and truly Israeli.

Collected Works

Her poems, stories, and translations were put together in three books. These books were published between 1957 and 1963. They featured beautiful drawings by Zila Binder. The books were titled:

• Shir ha-Gedi (Song of the kid)
• Yesh Li Sod (I have a secret)
• Ba-Halomi (In my dream)

The books were organized for different age groups. The first book was for preschoolers and very young children. It had fun play-songs, rhymes for finger games, lullabies, and poems about nature. It also included poems that taught good habits and ones just for fun.

The second book was for children who could read. It had longer stories about how children relate to their parents and their friends. The third book was for older children. It contained poems about the Land of Israel and about losing loved ones, including those who died in the Holocaust. These poems also shared hopes for peace and talked about a child's fears and feelings. They explored how a child learns about their own identity and fits into society. In 1986, all three books were reprinted together in one special edition.

Awards and Recognition

• In 1956, Miriam Yalan-Shteklis received the Israel Prize for Children's Literature. This was the first time this award category was given. The judges praised her for writing about true childhood, with its joys, sorrows, wisdom, and disappointments. They noted her wonderful understanding of children's worlds and her beautiful language.
• In 1968, she was honored as an Honorary Citizen of Jerusalem. She also received the Yakir Yerushalaim award.

Music and Her Poems

Many of Miriam Yalan-Shteklis's poems were turned into songs. These songs became classic Israeli children's tunes. In 1975, Israeli singers Shmulik Kraus and Josie Katz released an album of songs based on her poems.

Published Books

Translated Works

• Selected Poems
  • French: Jerusalem, Departament de la Jeunesse du Keren Hayesod, 1946
  • 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

See also

In Spanish: Miriam Yalan-Shteklis para niños