Shoshana Shababo

Shoshana Shababo was born in 1910 in Zichron Yaakov

Shoshana Shababo was born in Zikhron Ya'akov in 1910 to a Sephardic Jewish family from Safed. Her father, Shlomo, taught Arabic at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and later came to teach at the school in Zikhron Ya'akov. She grew up in a family of 5 daughters and 2 sons.

She studied at the local school headed by the writer Yehuda Burla and read widely. At 15, with a recommendation from Burla, she entered the Levinsky teachers' college in Tel Aviv. There she began writing short stories and pieces for newspapers.

Her first novel, Maria, about forbidden love and a pregnancy outside marriage, appeared in 1932 and drew harsh criticism. Her second novel, Love in Safed, came out in 1942. Her writing dealt with the changing status of Eastern women.

In 1942 she married David Karsanti, and the couple opened a wool store in Haifa. Facing criticism from the literary establishment and personal losses, she stopped writing. She died in Haifa in 1992 and was buried in Zikhron Ya'akov.