Presentation of the book "Del Bósforo a Villa Crespo" by Javier Leibiusky

In December 2024, the book will be published in Spanish in Buenos Aires by Editions Equidistancias. The translation of this work was made possible with the help of CERMOM.

Presentation of the book "Del Bósforo a Villa Crespo" by Javier Leibiusky

Sefarad, the Ottoman Empire and the Villa Crespo district of Buenos Aires mark the trajectory followed for 400 years by a good proportion of the Judeo-Spaniards from the East who arrived in Argentina between the end of the 19th^e century and the first decades of the 20th^e century. "Del Bósforo a Villa Crespo" is an interesting, precise and rigorous account of the motivations, challenges and peculiarities of the process of immigration and assimilation in Buenos Aires of these Jews from the Ottoman Empire who spoke Judeo-Spanish or ladino, as many native speakers call their own language, and who had been expelled from Spain around 1492. With an original contribution, Javier Leibiusky, PhD in World Languages, Literatures and Civilizations from the prestigious Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, tells the story of the first wave of immigrants to the Río de la Plata from this specific group, who rarely receive the attention they deserve as they are often drowned out by the wider Sephardic group. The combination of historical research with testimonials and anecdotes from Buenos Aires' Spanish-Jewish community makes "Del Bósforo a Villa Crespo" an essential book for learning about the origins of this very interesting community in Argentina.

Author's introduction

Javier Leibiusky was born in Buenos Aires in 1975. He grew up in Israel and has lived in Paris since 2007. He holds a PhD in languages, literatures and societies of the world (INALCO, Paris). He works on Judeo-Spanish language and culture, and teaches Hebrew in various institutions. Outside his teaching and research activities, he writes fiction and has published several collections of short stories in Argentina, such as Llueven Uñas, and in France, La Conspiration des Riobambas, Pan demonio / Pan de moño and Acoustic Stories. He recently published his first novel, Howmme.