Rita Gabbai-Simantov (born 1935 in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

) is a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

writer of

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

origin, known for her poetry written in

Ladino Ladino, derived from Latin, may refer to: * The register of Judaeo-Spanish used in the translation of religious texts, such as the Ferrara Bible *Ladino people, a socio-ethnic category of Mestizo or Hispanicized people in Central America especi ...

Biography

The

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

invaded Greece when she was a child, and in December 1942, her family managed to escape to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

by boat. They lived there until 1945, when the war ended and they returned to Greece. While she learned to speak

at home with her parents and especially with her grandfather and grandmother, her parents often spoke in French instead. But after she married a man who preferred speaking Ladino and began working in the

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i Embassy in Athens as a cultural officer, Gabbai-Simantov came into greater contact with

culture and the Judeo-Spanish language. In 1991, after the death of her husband, she visited Spain, and this contact with her ancestral country moved her to write her first poem, "Ermana Soledad." In 1992 she published her first poetry collection, ''Quinientos Anios Despues''. Her second collection, ''Fuente de mi Tradision'', was published in Athens in 1999. Her most recent poetry collection, ''Poezias de mi Vida'', was published in 2007. Gabbai-Simantov writes her poetry in Ladino. She also produced, in 2004, the first basic Ladino-Greek dictionary.

Selected works

* ''Quinientos Anios Despues'' (1992) * ''Fuente de mi Tradision'' (1999) * ''Poezias de mi Vida'' (2007)

References

{{Authority control 1935 births Judaeo-Spanish-language poets Greek women writers Sephardi Jewish culture in Greece Greek women poets Jewish women writers Jewish poets Greek Sephardi Jews Living people Writers from Athens