Gloria Fuertes

Gloria Fuertes (28 July 1917 – 27 November 1998) was a Spanish poet and author of children's literature. She was born and died in Madrid, Spain.

Biography

Gloria Fuertes was born in the traditional and popular Madrid district of Lavapies. Her mother was a seamstress and maid; her father, a beadle. She attended the Institute of Vocational Education of Women. Her interest in writing started at the early age of five, when she wrote and drew her own stories. She began writing poetry at fourteen, at fifteen read them in Radio Spain of Madrid, and at seventeen shaped her first book of poems, Isla Ignorada, to be published in 1950. Upon the death of her mother in 1934, she went to work for seventeen years in Metallurgy Workshops, and the following year she published her first poems and gave her first poetry reading on Radio Madrid.

Although she always was defined as "self-taught and poetically deschooling" her name has been linked to two literary movements: The Generation of 50 and Postismo, a literary group of postwar who joined late 40s and were part Carlos Edmundo de Ory, Eduardo Chicharro and Silvano Sernesi, and which also collaborated Angel Crespo and Francisco Nieva.

Postismo remained forever in Gloria Fuertes demystifying poetic attitude by way of humor; humor in Gloria Fuertes is a critical way of constructing reality and discovering the truth of things. The Civil War left a deep impression on her. The anti-war and protest against the absurdity of civilization are present in her poetry categorically. As she said, "without the tragedy of war she might never have written poetry."

In the aftermath of her war experience, Gloria Fuertes's work is characterized by irony dealing with universal issues such as love, pain, death and loneliness. All of it seasoned with strange metaphors and linguistic games full of charm, freshness and simplicity, which give her poems a great musicality and cadence near the oral language. There has been speculation about her homosexuality, which subtly appear declared in poems like "What Irritates Me", "I am open to all," "Jenny," etc.

Between 1940 and 1953 she began working in children's magazines, Pelayos, Chicos, Chicas, Chiqunitito, y children's books "Flechas y Pelayos" (Maravillas) and the newspaper Arriba, which published the comic strip "Pigtails and Pelines" (a nine-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy respectively). They achieved great popularity among young readers.

Alongside her dedication to children's literature in magazines, plays and poems, she, along with Maria Dolores and Adelaida Lasantas, founded in 1947 the group "Verses with Skirts" that organized concerts and poetry readings by bars and locals cafes, collaborated in adult magazines such as Directions, Spanish Poetry and Straw Bird, and created and directed the poetry magazine between 1950-1954 Archer, along with Antonio Gala, Julio Mariscal and Rafael Mir.

From 1955 to 1960 she studied library science and English at the International Institute. In 1961 she won the Fulbright scholarship in the United States to teach Spanish literature at the University of Bucknell; then she taught at Mary Baldwin College and Bryn Mawr College and taught Spanish to Americans at the International Institute until 1963; then she received Scholarship in 1972 from the Juan March Foundation for Children's Literature.

In her mid-70s she became actively involved in various children's programs TVE, Siendo Un Globo, Dos Globos, Tres Globos y La Cometa Blanca, which definitively became the poetry of children. Receiving five times the Aro de Plata for this information medium. From these years the activity of Gloria Fuertes is unstoppable: readings, concerts, tributes ... always near children; continuously publishing poetry for children and adults. She became very popular after the parody Martes y Trece made it into "Especial Nochevieja" (A Special New Year's Eve).

Indefatigable heavy smoker, she died of lung cancer on November 27, 1998 and was buried in the South Cemetery Madrid. In 2001 her remains were transferred to the Cemetery of La Paz of Alcobendas (Madrid).

Work

Children's books

Poetry

• Canciones para niños (1956)
• Villancicos (1956)
• Cangura para todo (1968). Mención de honor en el Premio Hans Christian Andersen de literatura infantil.
• Don Pato y Don Pito (1970)
• Aurora, Brígida y Carlos (1970)
• La pájara pinta (1972)
• "La Oca Loca" (1977)
• El camello cojito (1978)
• El hada acaramelada (1973)
• La gata chundarata y otros cuentos (1974)
• El dragón tragón (1978)
• La momia tiene catarro (1978)
• El libro loco. De todo un poco (1981)
• El perro que no sabía ladrar (1982)
• El abecedario de don Hilario (1983)
• El burro y la escuela (1987)
• Trabalenguas para que se trabe tu lengua (1988)
• El cocinero distraído (1994)

Theatre

• La princesa que quería ser pobre (1942)
• El chinito Chin-cha-té (1955)
• Petra, un señor pregunta por ti (1970)
• Las tres reinas magas (1978)

Television

• Un globo, dos globos, tres globos
• La mansión de los Plaff
• La cometa blanca
• Big Vand
• Los pequeños niños atacan de nuevo

Adult literature

• Isla ignorada (1950)
• Antología y poemas del suburbio (1954)
• Aconsejo beber hilo (1954)
• Todo asusta Caracas (1958). Primera mención del Concurso Internacional de Poesía Lírica Hispana
• Que estás en la tierra (1962)
• Ni tiro, ni veneno, ni navaja (1965). Premio Guipúzcoa
• Poeta de guardia (1968)
• Cómo atar los bigotes del tigre (1969). Accésit premio Vizcaya
• Antología poética (1950-1969)
• Sola en la sala (1973)
• Cuando amas aprendes geografía (1973)
• Obras incompletas (1980)
• Historia de Gloria: (amor, humor y desamor) (1983)
• Mujer de verso en pecho (1983)
• Pecábamos como ángeles (1997)
• Glorierías (1999)
• Es difícil ser feliz una tarde (2005)
• El Rastro (2006) Relatos
• Se beben la luz (2008)
• Los brazos desiertos (2009)
• El caserón de la loca (2010) (theatre)
• Poemas prácticos más que teóricos (2011)

External links

• Especial en Cervantes Virtual
• Fundación Gloria Fuertes
• www.escritoras.com
• Poéticas de Gloria Fuertes