pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
: Laura Villanueva Rocabado; 1912–1980) was a Bolivian writer, poet, and journalist.
Biography
Laura Villanueva Rocabado was born in
Oruro, Bolivia
Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level.
It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by popu ...
, in 1912, the second of three siblings. She was the daughter of the architect
Emilio Villanueva
Emilio Villanueva Peñaranda (November 28, 1882, in La Paz, Bolivia – May 14, 1970, in La Paz, Bolivia) was a revolutionary Bolivian architect. His parents were Jose Villanueva (1831–1882) and Maria Peñaranda (1852–1942). His brother, ...
and of Dominga Rocabado Flores.
Mundy married Antonio Ávila Jiménez, a poet from Oruro. Her daughter was the poet Silvia Mercedes Ávila.
Mundy wrote for the newspapers ''La Patria'', ''La Retaguardia'', and ''La Mañana''. In the latter, her column, "Brandy Cocktail", was notable in its day. She founded the weekly ''Dum Dum'', which was closed and censored after Mundy was exiled in 1934 by the de facto government of
José Luis Tejada Sorzano
José Luis Tejada Sorzano (12 January 1882 – 4 October 1938) was a Bolivian lawyer, economist, and politician who served as the 34th president of Bolivia from 1934 to 1936. The last president to be a member of the Liberal Party, Tejada Sor ...
following an article that criticized the Bolivian military for their defeat in the
Chaco War
The Chaco War ( es, link=no, Guerra del Chaco, gn, Cháko Ñorairõ"Estudio Introductorio, Rocio Zavala Virreir". Hilda Mundy, obra reunida. ''Plural Editores''. 2016. p. 14. (in Spanish)
Her articles were included in the newspapers of Oruro and La Paz:
Glosas contemporáneas (Diario La Retaguardia),
Brandy cocktail (Diario La mañana),
Semanario Dum Dum,
Corto circuito (Periódico La Patria),
Textos varios (El fuego),
Vitaminas (El fuego),
Revista de Bolivia,
Cuadernos literarios del periódico Última Hora,
Suplemento dominical de La Nación,
Khoya,
Dador, and
Inéditos.
She lived her last years in Casa del Poeta in the Miraflores neighborhood of
La Paz
La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
and died in 1980.Duran, Marlene (5/06/2011). "Quién fue Laura Villanueva" (in Spanish)
Works
The body of her published works include:
* ''Pirotecnia: ensayo miedoso de literatura ultraista'', Artistic Printing, La Paz, 1936. (2nd ed., The World / Plural Butterfly, La Paz, 2004.) (3rd ed., The books of the Broken Woman, Santiago de Chile, 2015.)
* ''Cosas de fondo: Impresiones de la Guerra del Chaco y otros escritos'', Huayna Potosí, La Paz, 1989.
* ''Obra reunida'', edición y estudio introductorio de Rocío Zavala Virreira, Biblioteca del Bicentenario de Bolivia, 2016.