Edith Covensky

Edith Covensky

Associate Professor of Teaching
Poet

248-915-8557

edith.covensky@wayne.edu

455 Manoogian
Detroit, Michigan
(Since January of 1987)

Curriculum vitae

Website(s)

poetrybyedith.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Covensky

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Covensky

Media

Department

Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Edith Covensky

Edith Covensky was born in Bucarest, Romania; Grew up in Haifa, Israel: And lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She completed her military service in Israel serving as a code breaker in the Northern Command. She received a ribbon of honor at the completion of her basic training, and a Certificate of Excellence at her discharge. Covensky reached the highest professional rank in code breaking during her military service.

Edith Covensky completed her Baccalaureat at the Alliance Francaise Israelite in Haifa, Israel (Kol Israel Haverim, in Hebrew) and continued her education at Wayne State University In French and Hebrew Literature passing her Ph.D. examinations with Distinction. She focused her studies on 19th century French literature and did extensive research on the theater of Alexander Dumas the Father, under the direction of Professor Fernande Bassan. She completed her Hebrew studies at The University of Michigan as a travelling scholar. Her Hebrew Ph.D. qualifying examination focused on Tanaitic literature from the 1st to 3rd centuries A.D.

Covensky has published 36 books of poetry since 1985. Her poetry has been translated (from the original Hebrew) into English, Romanian, Arabic, French and Spanish. She is editor of Pseifas, an Israeli literary Journal dedicated to classical and modern Hebrew poetry. Her articles have appeared in Israel, and Canada. Covensky is proud to teach at Wayne State University in the Near East area. She teaches the Modern Hebrew Language, Women Poets of the Middle East, Israeli culture: A Pluralistic Perspective, Film of the Middle East, and an immigration course: New Soil, Old Roots: The Immigration Experience. 

Covensky teaches Hebrew and Israeli studies at Wayne State University, including Israeli film. She serves on the committee of the Annual Jewish Film Festival of Metro Detroit with a branch in West Bloomfield. She writes film reviews for the Festival. She is married to Harvey Covensky, Attorney and has two children, Jeffrey and Laurice, also attorneys. Her grandchildren are Aden and Ainsley of San-Diego, California.

Research interest(s)/area of expertise

Modern Israeli Poetry from the latter half of the 19th century to the present. Her area of expertise is contemporary Israeli poetry. Her numerous poetic manifests appear through her poetry in such books as: Poetics, Synesis, Variations on a Theme of Albert Camus, Testimony, On the Border of Water, Life as Fiction, Portrait of a Poet, published in Hebrew in Israel, and in English, in the United States. Identifications, a book of poems publised in Romanian translated by Menachem Faleck. The book Genesis published in Spanish by Leviathan publishers in Argentina, 2019. Covensky is working on a new book: book entitled: Bistro 77.

Covensky is interested in Hebrew/Israeli film from Yaakov Ben Dov (seconf decade of the 20th century), to the present, and has expanded her interest to other films in the Middle East, notably, from Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. She is also on the Committee of the Jewish Film Festival in Metro Detroit. Covensky consistently receives voluntary teaching evaluations an thank you notes from her student.

Research

Covensky has written aticles and book review on such Israeli poets as: Yaara Ben David, Hedva Harechavi, Dalia Ravikovitch, Lea Goldberg, Zelda and Agi Mishol. Covensky is writing, as mentioned above, another book entitled: Bistro 77, and is currently translating it into English. She is also recording the five parts of this book in Hebrew and English. 

Education

Ph.D. Qualification Examination in French and Hebrew passed with Distinction

Awards and grants

See CV

News mentions

Edith Covensky and her poetry have been written about in several Israeli newspapers. Covensky had a 55 minutes interview and poetry reading on Israel Radio hosted by Zohar Noy.

Selected publications

Please refer to the CV for the list of publications both for books and individual poems. Covensky has published to date 36 poetry books in Hebrew, Hebrew/English, Hebrew/Arabic/English, Hebrew/French, Romanian and Spanish.  

Edith Covensky also published a Hebrew/English dialogue book: Where to Go? she uses in her Hebrew courses.

Other books

Other qualifications directly relevant to courses taught

Covensky studied the violin from the age of five to 16. This is relevant to language learning and teaching because making musical sounds is like making talking sounds. Also, music has theory and Language has grammar both are needed for correct playing and correct speaking, respectively.  

Courses taught by Edith Covensky

Fall Term 2024 (future)

Winter Term 2024 (current)

Fall Term 2023

Winter Term 2023

Fall Term 2022

Winter Term 2022