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The Call of the Ladino Language Guides Writer on a Lifelong Path
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Writer Jane Mushabac has been following the enticing call of the Judeo-Spanish language known as Ladino throughout her life.
The Sephardic Jews developed the language after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. As they traveled and formed communities around the globe, their Spanish language became enriched with influences from French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish.
Mushabac's family came from Turkey and settled in New York. As with many immigrants, the adults wanted the children to be "American" and speak English, but the elders sometimes spoke in a language they didn't want the children to understand.
Jane Mushabac grew up hearing Ladino in "outbursts" and songs. As the years went by, her interest in the Judeo-Spanish language deepened and she learned to speak, read and write in Ladino.
Jane created New York Ladino Day in 2018, hosted by the American Sephardi Foundation. Since 2020, she has been co-curator of the event with Bryan Kirschen, an associate professor of Spanish and linguistics at Binghamton University.
This episode of "The Age of Being Real" features audio recordings from the 8th annual New York Ladino Day in February 2025, where Jane's radio play "Mazal Bueno: A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews” was resented with narration by Broadway actor Julie Benko and Ladino songs performed by the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble.
The episode also includes recordings from April 2025 interviews at Mushabac's home in Manhattan and during her walk in the Riverside Park area of Manhattan that brings to life her novel "Song," a love story written during the Covid pandemic that features several locations in that neighborhood.
Mushabac, 81, has been honored with many awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation, a 2024 Pushcart Prize nomination, and an international Leapfrog Press award for her novel, “His Hundred Years, A Tale.” Her radio play, “Mazal Bueno: A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews,” was commissioned for an NPR broadcast in 1992 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Jews’ expulsion from Spain.
Mushabac is an emerita professor of English at New York City College of Technology. She earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University, a master's degree from Harvard and a PhD from the City University of New York.
Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.
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