J. I. Segal (, ''Yud Yud Segal'') (1896 – March 7, 1954), born Yaakov Yitzchak Skolar, was a Canadian Yiddish poet and journalist. He was a pioneer in the creation of Canadian Yiddish

literary journals A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

, and was the foremost proponent of

literary modernism Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented ...

in Yiddish Canada. His lyric poetry combines religious and folk tradition, modernist American literary practice, and Canadian landscape and atmosphere.

Biography

J. I. Segal was born Yaakov Yitzchak Skolar in 1896 in Slobkovitz,

Podolia Podolia or Podilia ( uk, Поділля, Podillia, ; russian: Подолье, Podolye; ro, Podolia; pl, Podole; german: Podolien; be, Падолле, Padollie; lt, Podolė), is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now Solobkovtsy,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

), the second youngest of seven children. He moved to the village of Koritz with his family at the age of three, after the death of his father. Segal immigrated to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

in 1911. Upon arriving in Canada, he found work as a tailor in the

garment industry Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry (producers of cotton, wool, fur, and synthetic fibre), embellishment ...

, and then later as a teacher at the Jewish People's School. By 1915 he had begun submitting poetry to the ''

Keneder Adler ''Der Keneder Adler'' () was Canada's leading Yiddish newspaper from 1907 until 1977. Founded in Montreal by Hirsch Wolofsky, the ''Adler'' underpinned Yiddish cultural activity in the city for much of the 20th century. History After losing his ...

''. In 1918 he published his first collection of poetry, ''Fun Mayn Velt'' ("From My World"), which brought him immediate recognition, not only in Canada but in New York City and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. In 1923, Segal and his family relocated to New York, where he joined

Di Yunge Di Yunge was the first major literary movement of Yiddish poetry in America. During the early 20th century, their work emphasized romanticism, individualism, subjectivism, and free and indirect expression. History Yiddish literature was most pr ...

poet

Mani Leib Mani Leib (Mani Leyb, yi, מאַני לייב; born Mani Leib Brahinsky, russian: Мани Лейб Брагинский; 20 December 1883, Nezhin, Russian Empire – 4 October 1953, New York) was a Yiddish-language poet. He was one of eight chil ...

's shoemaker collective. After publishing two collections of poetry, Segal returned to Montreal in 1928 after the death of his young daughter, Tsharna, whom he often addresses in later poems. From 1941 until his death he was co-editor of the literary pages of the ''Keneder Adler'' along with

Melech Ravitch Zechariah Choneh Bergner () (27 November 1893 – 20 August 1976), better known by his pen name Melech Ravitch (), was a Canadian Yiddish poet and essayist. Ravitch was one of the world's leading Yiddish literary figures after the Holocaust. Hi ...

. Segal was a prolific poet and the author of twelve volumes of poetry, among them, ''Sefer Idish'' ("The Book of Yiddish"), the last collection published in his lifetime, and ''Letste Lider'' ("Last Poems"), published posthumously. Since 1969, the Jewish Public Library of Montreal has awarded literary and translation prizes in his honor. The J.I. Segal Awards include bi-annual awards for the Best Quebec Book on a Jewish Theme, a writing award for writing in Yiddish, and an award for a Translation for a Book on a Jewish Theme. Past winners have included Leonard Cohen, Naim Kattan and Chava Rosenfarb. The 2022 awards will be announced in December, 2022.

External links

J. I. Segal on the Yiddish Book Center's Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segal, J. I. 1896 births 1954 deaths People from Khmelnytskyi Oblast People from Ushitsky Uyezd Ukrainian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada Canadian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Canadian publishers (people) Jewish Canadian writers Writers from Montreal Yiddish culture in Canada Yiddish-language journalists Yiddish-language poets