PERSONAJES.Carmen Conde y Rosa Chacel

Acknowledged by their work as writers, Carmen Conde and Rosa Chacel become part of the Celebrities series issued every year.

The life of Carmen Conde Abellán begins on the 15th August 1907 in Cartagena. She was very fond of literature from her early days and although she studied to become a teacher, she soon began to write. In 1927 she met poet Antonio Oliver Belmás who guided her towards poetry and with whom she got married in 1931. Together they started the first Popular University of Cartagena and the magazine Presencia, the university’s publication. For forty years, their lives run parallel devoted to study, writing and teaching. The 40’s was the most fruitful decade for Carmen Conde with the publication of a number of short stories, essays and poems. In 1953 she won the Elisenda de Montcada award; in 1961 she was awarded with the Doncel price for Young Theatre; in 1967 she won the National Poetry Award for Obra Poética and in 1980 she obtained the Ateneo de Sevilla award. In 1978 she was elected member of the Spanish Royal Academy, being the first woman to become a member, where she occupied the K seat. On the 28th of January of the following year she entered this institution with the speech Poetry faced with time and immortality. From the eighties onwards, she began to suffer from Alzheimer though she continued to work and take part in talks and radio programmes. She died in Madrid on the 8th January 1996.

Rosa Chacel, born in Valladolid on the 3rd June 1898, was the daughter of a schoolteacher who instilled into her the values of culture and academic training. From 1915 to 1918 she studied sculpture in the San Fernando Art School in Madrid, giving up soon in order to study literature. Linked to the ideas of Ortega y Gasset, she published novels, short stories, biographies, essays and poetry although she really staood out as a novel writer. After getting married to painter Timoteo Pérez Rubio, she moved to Italy where she collaborates in various literary magazines. In 1927 she returns to Madrid and went into exile to Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires during the Civil War. In the 70’s she lived between Rio and Madrid where she finished her novel Barrio de Maravillas, for which she won the Premio de la Crítica (critic’s award) in 1976. She definitely moved to Madrid when he husband died. In 1987 she won the Premio Nacional de las Letras and in 1990 the Premio Castilla y León de la Letras. Her novel Memorias de Leticia Valle was turned into a film. She died in Madrid in 1994.