Pura López Colomé (born November 6, 1952) is a Mexican poet and translator. She has contributed to various magazines and cultural supplements with poetry, essays, and translations of poetry and prose from English into Spanish. Her awards include the Alfonso Reyes National Essay Award, the National Poetry Translation Prize, and the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize.

Biography

Pura López Colomé was born on November 6, 1952, in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. Most of her childhood was lived between Mexico City and

Mérida, Yucatán Mérida (, ) is the capital of the List of states of Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán, and the largest city in southeastern Mexico. The city is also the seat of the Mérida Municipality, eponymous municipality. It is located slightly inland fro ...

, where her family is from. At the age of twelve, after the loss of her mother, she was sent to a Catholic

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

run by

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

s located in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, United States. The boarding school had a library which offered a large selection of literature. Thanks to the nun who taught her English class, Lopez Colome became interested in poetry, mainly Irish works, but also poetry in general. In boarding school, she wrote her first poems and translated

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

, and

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...

. López Colomé worked for a time as a language teacher at Berlitz. She then returned to Mexico, where she studied for a bachelor's degree in Hispanic and

Hispanic-American Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to the ...

literature at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM). She also served as secretary of the editorial staff of the Saturday supplement of the ''

Unomásuno ''Unomásuno'' (English language, English: ''One Plus One'') is a Mexican daily tabloid newspaper circulated in Mexico City. Formed in 1977 by former employees of Mexico City's daily newspaper ''Excélsior'', it became one of the leading lefti ...

'' newspaper for several years, under the direction of Huberto Batis. Teachers like Huberto Batis, Antonio Alatorre,

Salvador Elizondo Salvador Elizondo Alcalde (December 19, 1932, in Mexico City – March 29, 2006) was a Mexican writer of the 60s Generation of Mexican literature. Regarded as one of the creators of the most influential cult noirè, experimental, intelligent ...

, César Rodríguez Chicharro, and

Ernesto Mejía Sánchez Ernesto Mejía Sánchez (Masaya, Nicaragua, 1923 – Mérida, Mexico, 1985) was a Nicaraguan author and poet. He took his doctoral degree in Madrid and, for several years was a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His first ...

, motivated her not to change direction. She later took courses corresponding to master's and doctorate degrees, then left academia to dedicate herself totally to writing poetry and essays, and translating poetry. López Colomé is a member of the National System of Art Creators. She married the Mexican biochemist, professor, academic and researcher, Alberto Darszon Israel.

Awards and honours

In 1977, she received the Alfonso Reyes National Essay Award for ''Diálogo socrático en Alfonso Reyes''. In 1992, she won the National Poetry Translation Prize for ''Isla de las estaciones'', by Seamus Heaney. In 2007, she shared the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize with

Elsa Cross Elsa Cross (born March 6, 1946, in Mexico City), is a contemporary Spanish-language Mexican writer perhaps best known for her poetry. She has also published translations, philosophical essays and is known as an authority on Indian philosophy. ...

, for ''Santo y sig''.

Selected works

*''El sueño del cazador'' (México: Cuarto Menguante, 1985.) *''Un cristal en otro'' (México: Ediciones Toledo, 1990.) *''Aurora'' (México: Ediciones del Equilibrista, 1994.) *''Intemperie'' (San Luis Potosí: Ediciones Sin Nombre, 1997.) *''Santo y Seña'' (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007.) *''Reliquia'' (México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes / Ediciones Sin Nombre, 2008.) *''Por si acaso no'' (México: Parentalia ediciones (Fervores), 2010.) *''Poemas reunidos. 1985-2012''(México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Práctica Mortal), 2013.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Colome, Pura 1952 births Living people 20th-century Mexican poets 21st-century Mexican poets Mexican women poets 20th-century Mexican women writers 21st-century Mexican women writers Mexican translators National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Xavier Villaurrutia Award winners