Levin Kipnis Explained

Levin Kipnis
Birth Name:Levin Kipnis
Birth Date:1 August 1894
Birth Place:Ushomyr, Volhynian Governorate, Russian Empire
Death Place:Tel Aviv, Israel
Occupation:Children's author, poet
Language:Hebrew, Yiddish
Nationality:Israeli
Notable Works:Shanah Tova
Awards:
  • Yatsiv Prize for Children's Literature (1962)
  • Lamdan Prize for Children's Literature (1976)
  • Israel Prize for children's literature (1978)

Levin Kipnis (Hebrew: לֶוִין קִיפְּנִיס; 1 August 1894 – 20 June 1990), or was born 1890,[1] was an Israeli children's author and poet who wrote mainly in Hebrew and Yiddish. He won the Israel prize in 1978.[2]

Biography

Kipnis was born in Ushomyr in Volhynian Governorate which was part of the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire (now in Korosten Raion of Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine), into a family of 12. His father, Pessach, who was a shaliach tzibbur, sent him to study in a Cheder, which he didn't like because of the strict discipline. He showed a passion for the arts from a young age, painting and woodcarving. His father, who saw his potential, encouraged him to become a sofer stam. He wrote mezuzot to provide additional income for the family.

He decided to become a writer at the age of 13, after seeing the Hebrew children's magazine "Haprachim" ("the flowers"). In his attic, he wrote, illustrated and produced his own magazine, later submitting one of his stories, "the sick child" to the children's magazine. The story was published in 1910. Kipnis completed his education in Jitomir and Warsaw, then went back to his hometown, where he founded an "improved Cheder," established a Hebrew library and wrote and directed plays. In 1913, he emigrated to Ottoman Palestine and continued his arts education at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. The lack of content for children of kindergarten age convinced him to write songs suited for preschoolers.[3]

With the outbreak of World War I, Kipnis established the "Little Library for Children" publisher in Jaffa, while concurrently doing agricultural forced labor for the Ottoman military. After the war he returned to Jerusalem at the invitation of Bezalel to write and edit content for preschoolers and published story and song collections for children as well as the first magazine for preschool teachers "Ganenu" ("our garden" or "our kindergarten").

In 1921, he managed an orphanage in Safed. In 1922, he traveled to Berlin, Germany for advanced studies in art and craftsmanship. There he published three books in German. He returned in 1923 and began teaching at the Levinsky Teacher's College in Tel Aviv.

In 1928, Kipnis wrote plays and participated actively in the foundation of a children's theater, later known as "Teatron Hagananot" ("the preschool-teacher theater"), where some well known Hebrew performers such as Bracha Zefira and Sara Levi-Tanai participated.[4]

In 1956, he retired from his job as an educator and dedicated his time to writing.

Kipnis's writing is characterized by a light and happy style, devoid of pathos, yet rich and aesthetic. His collections in Hebrew encompass about 800 stories and 600 poems. Kipnis also wrote songs in Hebrew, including Shanah Tova. He also wrote children's books in Yiddish, publishing a collection in 1961. His work was translated into English, French, German, Russian, Arabic and Yiddish. He was active as a writer for 80 years, from 1910 to 1990.

Kipnis died in 1990 in Tel Aviv.

The archive of his work is at the Levin Kipnis Center for Children's Literature, Levinsky Teachers' College. The center awards a bi-annual prize named after Kipnis for a research project about children's literature.[5] In 2020 a poem, written by Kipnis as a boy in 1905, was found in the Boris Schatz Archives at the Information Center for Israeli Art.[6]

Awards and honors

Street are named after him in Be'er Sheva and Tel Aviv

Bibliography

Books published in Hebrew

Children

Books in translation

See also

Notes and References

  1. His identity card and his tombstone record his year of birth in 1894, but evidence was found in his handwriting that his date of birth is 1 August 1890. This can be seen in a letter to the Bezalel School (now in the Bezalel Archive) in which he writes his age with the date, and dedication of a picture to his uncle where he writes his age with the date. See the back of the picture that appears in Leah Naor's book, "The King of Children," published by Yad Ben Zvi. Information from Hebrew Wikipedia page on Levin Kipnis
  2. News: Levin Kipnis, Author, 96 - Obituary - NYTimes.com . . 23 June 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131114020940/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/23/obituaries/levin-kipnis-author-96.html . 14 November 2013 . 23 June 1990 . dead .
  3. Web site: The Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature . ithl.org.il . 23 June 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110622033936/http://www.ithl.org.il/author_info.asp?id=144 . 22 June 2011 .
  4. Web site: האבולוציה של תיאטרון הילדים הישראלי – ילדים – גלריה – עכבר העיר . mouse.co.il . 23 June 2010 . 19 April 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150419120315/http://www.mouse.co.il/CM.articles_item,1024,209,46588,.aspx . dead .
  5. Web site: Israel . ibby.org . 23 June 2010 . 15 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210415183017/https://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=430 . dead .
  6. Ofer Aderet, "A 113-year-old lost song by the children's author Levin Kipnis was discovered at the Israel Museum", Haaretz, 27 November 2020. Hebrew
  7. Web site: Israel Prize Official Site – Recipients in 1978 (in Hebrew) . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716091115/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashlag/Tashmab_Tashlag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashlach . 16 July 2011 .

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