Born | Tripoli, Libya, 1949 |
Left Libya | June 1967, for Italy |
Today | Poet and painter living in California |
Expertise | Libyan Jewish life, displacement, and healing through art |
Speaks to | University, community, and synagogue audiences |
Penina Meghnagi Solomon was born in Tripoli, Libya, in 1949, the oldest daughter in a family with deep roots in the city's Jewish community. Her father, Vittorio Hluma Meghnagi, was a celebrated swimming champion who died in 1963 and was buried in Tripoli's Jewish cemetery. Her childhood was shaped by the sea, the desert, and the languages of home, including Judeo-Arabic.
When the Six-Day War broke out in June 1967, anti-Jewish violence spread through Libya. Penina's family went into hiding, protected by neighbors who brought them food, and by a local sheikh who turned away a mob. On June 30, 1967, the family left for Italy with one suitcase. Penina worked for a year in Italy before joining a kibbutz in Israel, and later settled in California.
Today Penina is a poet and painter who works through the experience of expulsion by rendering the world she was forced to leave. Her poems, including "The Champion," "Slaughter," and "Refugee," recall her father, the 1945 riots against Libyan Jews, and her family's flight in 1967. They appeared in Sephardic Horizons in 2023. She speaks with warmth about joy, loss, and resilience.
We are like sand in the desert, blown to the four corners of the world.
Penina Solomon, speaking on the Northern Soundings podcast (2024), as reported by Point of No Return
Speaking Topics
What Penina talks about
1. Jewish life in Libya
The everyday world of Tripoli's Jewish community before 1967, its sounds, languages, and traditions.
2. 1967 and leaving home
A firsthand account of hiding, the kindness of neighbors, and departing Libya with one suitcase.
3. Becoming a refugee
Starting over in Italy and Israel, and what it means to lose a homeland and citizenship.
4. Healing through the arts
How poetry and painting helped her process trauma and preserve memory.
5. Family, language, and identity
How one family came to speak Italian, Hebrew, and Judeo-Arabic across generations.
Select Talks
Selected talks and appearances
2024 | University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of English, Fairbanks, "Jewish Life in Libya: Remember the Past, Live the Present, Trust the Future," with Dr. David Gerbi |
2024 | Northern Soundings podcast (Alaska), "If I Forget You, Libya," interview with host Robert Hannon alongside Dr. David Gerbi |
2017 | Shabbat in Libya program (JIMENA) |
2016 | University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Southern California, Los Angeles (JIMENA programs) |
2016 | YALA (JIMENA program) |
These are a selection of Penina’s talks. Penina has given many more, at universities, community programs, and podcasts in California and Alaska.
Publications and Media
Read, watch, and listen
Article
Poems: Where is My Home?
A selection of her poems on Libya, her father, and exile, published in Sephardic Horizons, Volume 13, Issue 3, Summer 2023. See the Summer 2023 issue
Profile
Libyan Jewish poet recalls Sahara, sea and being a refugee
Point of No Return introduces her poems "The Champion," "Slaughter," and "Refugee," 2023. Read the profile
Podcast
Libyan Jews want to preserve the memory of Jewish life
Point of No Return summary of her Northern Soundings interview with Dr. David Gerbi, 2024. Read about the interview
Profile
Jewish Life in Libya
University of Alaska Fairbanks event page for her 2024 talk with Dr. David Gerbi. View the event page
Affiliations
Organizations
- JIMENA Speakers Bureau
Book Penina
Bring this speaker to your audience
To invite Penina Meghnagi Solomon to your school, university, congregation, or organization, use the Book Speaker button above or email info@jimena.org.