Olga Kirsch

Olga Kirsch (1924–1997) was a South African and Israeli poet.

Biography

Kirsch was born and brought up in Koppies in the Orange Free State. Her father had emigrated there from Lithuania and, though a Yiddish speaker, brought his daughter up to speak English. She nevertheless wrote in Afrikaans, publishing eight books of poetry in that language, as well as a volume of selected poems (she was only the second female Afrikaans poet to be published). Kirsch emigrated to Israel at the age of twenty-four, living there from 1948 until her death.

In 1990 she published her first book of poetry in English. She continued to write in English, and was actively involved with the Israel Association of Writers in English. Though well-known as a poet in South Africa, she failed to achieve the same degree of fame in Israel or the English-speaking world.

Her poetry was marked by meter and often by rhyme. In her youth she wrote mainly about the inhumanity of racism, and of her longing for Zion. As she matured, more personal themes became central. She wrote a series of sonnets dedicated to her husband, the mathematician Joseph Gillis. She wrote in mourning of her mother, and of her beloved granddaughter who died at nine years of age. Throughout her writing there are poems on the theme of nature, and the destruction of nature.

An accomplished linguist, she translated her poetry from Afrikaans into English and Hebrew. When unable to write, she would draw from nature, carve in wood, and embroider. Her sensitivity to nature affected her work in these media as well.

Bibliography

Year links are to "[year] in poetry" articles:

• 1948: Mure van die Hart (Johannesburg: Afrikaanse pers boekhandel)
• 1972: Negentien Gedigte (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau)
• 1976: Geil Gebied (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau)
• 1978: Oorwinteraars in die Vreemde (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau)
• 1982: Afskeide (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau)
• 1983: Ruie tuin (Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau)
• 1990: The Book of Sitrya (Rehovot: O. Kirsch)

External links

• Olga Kirsch from the Database of Family Names, Personality of the Week (retrieved 17 May 2006)
• English Writing in Israel Karen Alkalay-Gut (retrieved 17 May 2006)
• List of contributors from Metamorphoses

Persondata
Name	Kirsch, Olga
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1924
Place of birth
Date of death	1997
Place of death