María Carmen de Icaza y de León, 8th Baroness of Claret (17 May 1899 – 16 March 1979) was a
Spanish journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
from 1935–60.
[Maureen Ihrie & Salvador Oropesa. ''World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia'', pp. 507-08, ABC-CLIO, 20 October 2011.] She enjoyed success with her 1936 novel, ''
Cristina Guzmán'', which was subsequently adapted for the stage, television and cinema. By 1945, she was a best-selling writer in Spain. Her father was Mexican writer and diplomat
Francisco A. de Icaza.
Biography
María Carmen de Icaza y de León was born on 17 May 1899 in Madrid, the second daughter of Francisco Asís de Icaza y Beña, a Mexican ambassador and poet, and his wife, Beatriz de León y Loynaz, born in
La Habana, daughter of Spanish aristocrats. She had four sisters: Beatriz, Ana María, María Luz and
María Sonsoles (''
Marquesa
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
de Llanzol''), and one brother, Francisco de Asís.
One 1925, her father died, and she began working at El Sol newspaper. In 1930, she married Lt. Col. Pedro Montojo Sureda, and in 1932 they had her only daughter Paloma Montojo y de Icaza, mother of
Íñigo Méndez de Vigo
Íñigo Méndez de Vigo y Montojo, 9th Baron of Claret (born 21 January 1956) is a Spanish aristocrat and politician. He served as Minister of Education, Culture and Sport between 26 June 2015 and 1 June 2018, when a vote of no-confidence aga ...
.
She started to writing novels in 1935 as Valeria de León, later she used her real name Carmen de Icaza. On 14 December 1951, she obtained her noble title of ''8th Baroness of Claret'', by her collaboration with charity.
Revista Hidalguía, número 134. Año 1976. ''Ediciones Hidalguia'' (page number 128).">''"CLARET, Barón de : Concedido el 20 de febrero de 1654 a don Francisco de Areny y Torralla, Señor de Claret y otros lugares en Cataluña. Rehabilitación a doña Carmen de Icaza y de León (14 de diciembre de 1951)."''
Revista Hidalguía, número 134. Año 1976. ''Ediciones Hidalguia'' (page number 128).
/ref>
Her husband died on 17 March in 1978, and she died on 16 March 1979 in her native Madrid.
Bibliography
As Valeria de León
* ''La boda del Duque Kurt'' (1935) (reedited as ''Talía'' in 1951)
As Carmen de Icaza
* '' Cristina Guzmán'' (1936)
* ''¡Quién sabe...!'' (1939)
* ''Soñar la vida'' (1941)
* ''Vestida de tul'' (1942)
* ''El tiempo vuelve'' (1945)
* ''La fuente enterrada'' (1947)
* ''Yo, la Reina'' (1950)
* ''Las horas contadas'' (1953)
* ''La casa de enfrente'' (1960)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Icaza, Carmen de
1899 births
1979 deaths
Spanish novelists
Writers from Madrid
Spanish romantic fiction writers
Women romantic fiction writers
20th-century Spanish novelists
20th-century women writers