Segal, Esther

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SEGAL, ESTHER

SEGAL, ESTHER (1895–1974). Yiddish poet; sister of J.I. *Segal. Segal was born in Solobkovits (now Solobkovtsy), Ukraine. Her father, a cantor, died when she was young. In 1910 the family emigrated to Canada to join her mother's siblings. Segal attended a religious school in Montreal, then worked in a factory while studying in the evening. She later attended the Jewish Teachers Seminary in New York. She married poet A. Sh. Shkolnikov.

Segal wrote from a young age, but did not publish any work until 1922, when her work appeared in the collection Epokhe, edited by her husband, her brother, and A. Almi. Following this debut her work appeared in many literary journals in Canada, the United States, Lithuania, and Poland. In 1928 her only book, Lider, was published by a Toronto branch of the Labor-Zionist Yidish-Natsyonaler Farband. She continued to write poetry for journal publication, including lyrics, children's poems, and poems on topics of social concern. Her husband died in 1962, and in 1965 she moved to a kibbutz in Israel, where she lived until her death.

bibliography:

lnyl, 396; 100 Yor Yidishe un Hebreishe Literatur in Kanade, 180.

[Faith Jones (2nd ed.)]