IDA TILLES

IDA TILLES (1888-February 1, 1955)

            She was born in Dunilovitsh (Lith. Danileviciai, Bel. Dunilavičy), Vilna district, Lithuania.  She graduated from a Russian school, studying Jewish subject matter with her father.  Until 1905 she lived in her town, where she was active in the Bund.  She later moved to the United States and became a worker.  She lived in Portland, Oregon (near the Pacific), Los Angeles, California, and Winnipeg, Canada.  She debuted in print with lyrical and labor poetry in Tsukunft (Future) in New York (1917), and from that point she published poems, short sketches, and translations from Russian literature in: Dos yudishe vort (The Jewish word) in Winnipeg (1918); Der fraynd (The friend) and Frayhayt (Freedom) in New York; and elsewhere.  In the anthologies Lid (Poem) (Los Angeles, 1933-1937), she published a great number of poems.  In 1924 she won a poetry competition run by Frayhayt in New York.  She died in Los Angeles.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Ezra Korman, Yidishe dikhterins (Jewish women poets) (Chicago, 1928), pp. 185-88, 343; Kalmen marmor arkhiv (The Kalmen Marmor archive) (YIVO, New York).

Khayim Leyb Fuks