
Faculty member Canan Bolel presents at the Mary Schwartz Summit senior living community in November 2024. Photo by Hannah Pressman, co-director of the American Ladino League
By Gabriela Payumo
Last fall, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures Canan Bolel cast something of a Sephardic spell over a packed house of lifelong Ladino speakers and UW students at the Mary Schwartz Summit senior living community in Seattle. Appearing as a guest lecturer for the November 2024 meeting of the Ladineros, the Seattle-based language group dedicated to the preservation and celebration of the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language, Professor Bolel was invited to speak about her latest work in Ladino: providing transliterations for New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo’s newest novel, “The Familiar.”
Selected by The Washington Post as one of its most anticipated books of 2024, “The Familiar” is Bardugo’s first-ever work of historical fiction, set during the time of the Spanish Golden Age. At its heart is Luzia, an orphaned kitchen maid whose magic is unlocked only when she speaks in her family’s secret language, Ladino. When Luzia’s power is discovered, she is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change her fortune, contending with the political power struggles of the Spanish court, balancing her own salvation against condemnation as a sorceress, and trusting an alliance with an immortal “familiar.”

Canan Bolel shares books that informed the magical world of “The Familiar”: “Ritual Medical Lore of Sephardic Women” by Isaac Jack Lévy and Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt and “Jewish Magic and Superstition” by Joshua Trachtenberg. Photo by Hannah Pressman, co-director of the American Ladino League
Professor Bolel shared that helping to give voice to the character of Luzia was one of the most meaningful parts of her collaboration with Bardugo. She described seeing Luzia on paper as a fascinating experience, one that prompted her to think about secrets and magic, power and agency and the ability to change one’s fate. ‘“Aboltar kazal, Aboltar mazal’ embodies this idea of mobility,” Professor Bolel said, echoing the Ladino refran (meaning “a change of scene, a change of fortune” in English) that Luzia utters in the early pages of “The Familiar.” “Whether change is welcome or not, people make irrevocable decisions based on shifts in their circumstances, and the subsequent emotions these new experiences surface. New beginnings, yet also tragedies.”
Professor Bolel references the Sephardic history of the expulsion from Spain in 1492 when all Jews living in the country were, by royal decree, order to convert, leave or perish. “The Familiar” is set in the following century, with the Inquisition as the backdrop amidst which Luzia must hide her Jewish identity, making her use of magic that much more of a risk, as her power is unlocked only when she speaks in Ladino refranes.
The history and meaning behind these refranes, along with echizos (spells), prekantes (cures) and more, was the focus of Professor Bolel’s presentation to the Ladineros. Speaking at the Summit, Bolel said she felt “at home” in a space with people gathered from all different backgrounds, parts of the world and communities. She expressed that, for someone whose “life’s work revolves around the survival of language and culture,” to be in that room invoked a shared connection “between us all.”
Beyond Ladino, Professor Bolel is fluent in English, Turkish, and Spanish, and works with French and Hebrew. She describes Ladino’s “malleability” as its most captivating trait, and a reason she holds it dear. The fluidity between languages makes this language a key piece of a magnificent puzzle, she explains, as it requires resilience and creativity to thrive.

UW faculty member Canan Bolel (center) at the Summit with Jennifer McCullum, assistant director of the UW Sephardic Studies Program (left), and student and writer Gabriela Payumo (right) in November 2024. Photo by Hannah Pressman, co-director of the American Ladino League
Now in her third year of teaching at the University of Washington, Professor Bolel saw this linguistic “puzzle” come together firsthand while instructing one of her early Ladino classes in 2023. Students came from different linguistic backgrounds — Hebrew, Spanish, Turkish, French, and Portuguese — all drawn to the mysterious language. Professor Bolel was inspired as she saw the students working together, applying their respective knowledge, to learn something new from within this language. “The hybrid nature of Ladino requires adaptation and resilience,” said Professor Bolel. “Just like a stick, if it does not bend it will break; it is the same with the [mutability] of Ladino, making it stronger as a language.”
Professor Bolel’s research often focuses on ancient texts and rewriting books long gone, from the 19th-century Sephardic world. The collaboration with Leigh Bardugo offered her a new way to connect to Ladino through contemporary storytelling and enabled Bolel to bring her scholarship into modern-day popular fiction. “I am a personal believer in the power of words and how they are wielded,” said Professor Bolel. “Much like magic!”
To learn more about Professor Bolel’s work with New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo, watch the recording of our 2024 Ladino Day program or listen to it as a podcast.
Gabriela Payumo is an undergraduate student majoring in English with a minor in Jewish studies. She plans to graduate in 2026.
Excellent, informative and interesting commentary on the greatness and frailty of the past! Let alone the future! H M Harris
Very articulate, intelligent, educational article!
Our ancient heritage, again, to remind us how we got here! Remarkable author and translator! Really glad to see quality reporting in U of W journal !