L[EYB] BERKOVITSH

L[EYB] BERKOVITSH (March 12, 1897-September 2, 1958)

He was born in Anisht (Anyksciai), Kovno region, into a poor tailor’s household.  He received a traditional Jewish education.  At age thirteen he emigrated to Canada, and at age fifteen he began working in various trades.  At seventeen, he began writing poems and skits.  He published them in provincial newspapers and magazines.  In 1925 he moved to New York where he published poems for children in Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s magazine), Kundes (Prankster), and elsewhere—later, in Frayhayt (Freedom).  For many years he worked as a teacher.  From 1929 he was living in California.  He was the husband of the poetess, Leah Hofman, who died young.  He was the author of the volume of poetry: Kleynvelt (Small world) (Los Angeles, 1934), 120 pp.

Source: Aleksander Pomerants, Proletpen (Proletarian pen) (Kiev, 1935), p. 200.