Dineh

Dineh, posthumously published, is an autobiographical novel by Yiddish writer Ida Maze (1893-1962). Dineh is a pastorale laced in beauty and sorrow and a bildungsroman told from the point of view of a young girl. Set entirely in what is now Belarus, Maze's eponymous heroine is fueled by her hunger for learning, connection to family and community, and love of the natural world.

Dineh, posthumously published, is an autobiographical novel by Yiddish writer Ida Maze (1893-1962). Dineh is a pastorale laced in beauty and sorrow and a bildungsroman told from the point of view of a young girl. Set entirely in what is now Belarus, Maze's eponymous heroine is fueled by her hunger for learning, connection to family and community, and love of the natural world.

Born Hayeh Zukofsky (also rendered as Zukowski, Zukowsky, and Zukovsky among other forms) in 1893 in the village of Ugli (also rendered as Ogli), White Russia (now Belarus), Ida Maze (pronounced MAA-zeh; also rendered as Maza and Massey) was an important figure in the world of Yiddish letters. After emigrating from White Russia in 1907(?), she lived briefly in New York City and then settled in Montreal. Maze's generosity was the stuff of legend. She helped refugee writers navigate the Canadian immigration system, edited the books of other poets, and advocated for writers in many ways. The doors of her home were kept open, and many Yiddish writers gathered there. Maze was an acclaimed author of poems for adults and children. In addition to Dineh she wrote four books of poetry, A mame (A Mother; 1931), Lider far kinder (Poems for Children; 1936), Naye lider (New Poems; 1941), and Vaksn mayne kinderlekh: muter un kinder-lider (My Children Grow: Mother and Children Poems; 1954), which was awarded the prize in children's literature by the Congress for Jewish Culture in 1955. Ida Maze died in Montreal in 1962.