María Angelina Acuña Sagastume de Castañeda (31 January 1905 – 14 June 2006) was a Guatemalan writer of prose and poetry. A major poetry figure in her country, she was especially known for her rigor in managing classical verse within the

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's invention, ...

. The writer

Margarita Carrera Margarita Carrera Molina (16 September 1929 – 31 March 2018) was a Guatemalan philosopher, professor and writer. She was a member of the Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua and the 1996 laureate of the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Prize in ...

called Acuña the "sister in spirit of Gabriela Mistral".

Biography

María Angelina Acuña Sagastume de Castañeda was born in Jutiapa to Francisco Acuña and Adela Sagastume de Acuña. She moved to Guatemala City where she studied to become a teacher of Primary Education. She earned a Bachelor of Science and Letters at

Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas Belén Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas Belén or Instituto Belén is an institution of secondary education in Guatemala, specializing in the training of teachers in urban primary education. It was established on 20 January 1875, and is based in ...

. After graduating, she worked in teaching institutes such as Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas Belén and the Instituto Nacional Centroamérica (INCA). She taught as a visiting professor at Florida Southern College ( Lakeland, Florida). Acuña began publishing poetry in the 1930s and was one of the most prolific women poets in Guatemala, publishing in the newspaper ''El Imparcial'', the leading woman's magazine ''Nosotras'', as well as in bound collections. She participated in many poetry contests, winning numerous awards, as a means to open the door to publishing"Finzer (2008)", p 175 and her skillful use of language helped her succeed and gain recognition a society which still mostly believed that men's intelligence was superior to women's."Finzer (2008)", p 176 Unlike some of her fellow Guatemalan female writers, like

Elisa Hall de Asturias Elisa Hall de Asturias (26 February 1900 – 20 May 1982) was a Guatemalan writer and intellectual. In the 1930s, she wrote a book ''Semilla de mostaza'' that became the source of controversy for nearly 70 years. Anti-feminist biases at the ...

who gave up writing due to the then-prevalent misogyny, or Magdalena Spínola who faced ostracism during the dictatorship of Jorge Ubico Castañeda, Acuña was able to manipulate language and use poetic forms to address the culture without appearing to be a threat."Finzer (2008)", p 183 Rather than promoting the heroic fatherland united under "Father God", Acuña celebrated her nationalism by employing imagery of mother earth's fertility to evoke both pride in her homeland and address the patriarchy of her times without explicit confrontation."Finzer (2008)", pp. 200-01 In 1938, she participated in an anthology called ''Colección lila'' with

Olga Violeta Luna de Marroquín Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russia ...

María del Pilar de Garcia Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, and

Magdalena Spínola Magdalena Spínola (1896–1991) was a Guatemalan teacher, poet and journalist. Orphaned at a young age, she found encouragement from her childhood neighbor Miguel Ángel Asturias for her literary dreams. After graduating from the country's Te ...

, which was Central America's first women's poetry collection, both written and published by women."Finzer (2008)", p 60 She founded and directed for several literary journals throughout her career and was a member of the Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua.

Death

Acuña died at the age of 101 in her home in her native Jutiapa, Guatemala.Obituary
prensalibre.com. Accessed 28 April 2022.

Awards

*1960 Woman of the Americas by the Pan American Union of Women in New York *1960 Order of Quetzal *1974 Order of Francisco Marroquín * Distinction of Emeritus of Merit by the Faculty of Humanities at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala *2005 Quetzal of the Jade Maya, the highest honor of the Quetzal and first ever given to a woman

Selected works

* ''La gavilla de Ruth'' (1938)"Finzer (2008)", p 92 * ''Ofrenda Lirica a Guatemala'' (1939) * ''Para que duerma un indito'' (1952) * ''Fiesta de Luciérnagas'' (1953) * ''Madre Américas'' (1960) * ''El llamado de la cumbre'' (1960) * ''Canto de amor en latitud marina'' (1968) * ''Elogio del soneto'' (1999)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acuna, Angelina 1900s births 2006 deaths People from Jutiapa Department 20th-century Guatemalan poets Guatemalan women poets Guatemalan centenarians 20th-century Guatemalan women writers Women centenarians