ARN-YOYSEF SHMERLER

ARN-YOYSEF SHMERLER (June 17, 1883-)

            He was a journalist, born with the original surname of Shmerlitski in Solotvine (Solotvyn), Galicia.  In 1902 he made his way to the United States and in 1914 to Toronto.  He studied chemistry at the Toronto polytechnical school.  He began writing articles on labor issues for Idishe zhurnal (Jewish journal), and in 1915 he became a regular contributor.  He also placed work in the socialist monthly Di naye tsayt (The new times) and later in the Labor Zionist daily Di tsayt (The times) in New York.  He also translated items from English and German into Yiddish (under the pen name H. Rays) as well as several longer works, such as Albert Edwards’s novel Comrade Yetta and Jack London’s short stories (under the pen name Yoysef Nardovski).

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4.

Berl Cohen

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 531.]