Victòria Peña i Nicolau (28 March 1827 in

Palma Palma or La Palma means palm in a number of languages and may also refer to: Geography Africa *Palma, Mozambique, city ** Palma District *La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, Spain **La Palma (DO), a ''Denominación de Origen'' for wines from the ...

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Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, 1898) also known as Victoria Peña de Amer, was a Mallorcan poet, sister of Pere de Alcàntara Peña i Nicolau, married to the poet Miquel Victorià Amer.

Biography

During her youth, she studied religious writers like Saint Teresa de Jesus, Fray Luis de Leon and

Fray Luis de Granada Louis of Granada, OP (1504 – 31 December 1588), was a Dominican friar who was noted as theologian, writer and preacher. The cause for his canonization has been long open with the Holy See, with his current status being Venerable. Biography ...

. When she was about twenty years old, she published in the newspapers of Palma her first compositions written in Spanish, and in 1855 she gave to the stamp a chosen collection of religious rhymes. She then began writing with a group that published the magazine ''El Plantel'', where she met Miquel Amer, with whom she would marry and move to

in 1859, since the husband was named administrator of the Northern Railway. She had his support, although she expressed in her poetry the sadness caused by the death of her younger children. Amer's participation in the foundation and maintenance of the Barcelona

Floral Games Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as ''Jocs florals'' (; modern Occitan: ''Jòcs florals'' , or ''floraus'' ). In French the ...

facilitated Victoria's participation in poetic contests. She obtained an award in 1859 with ''"Anyorança"'' ("Yearning") and was still awarded several times: 1865 for ''"Amor de mare"'' ("Motherly love"), 1873 for ''"Una visita a ma pàtria"'' ("A visit to my homeland"), 1880 for ''"Joventut perduda"'' ("Lost youth") and 1883 for ''"Lo meu niu"'' ("My nest"). The great participation of Victoria Peña in numerous contests provoked even the criticisms of people like for example

Miquel dels Sants Oliver Miquel may refer to: * the Catalan form of the given name Michael * Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (1811–1871), a Dutch botanist * Gérard Miquel (born 1946), a member of the Senate of France * Ignasi Miquel (born 1992), a Spanish football player ...

. Francesc Matheu collected much of her poetry in 1909, after the writer died, in a book published in Barcelona, ''"Poesies de Victòria Penya d'Amer"'' ("Poems by Victòria Penya d'Amer"). She died in Barcelona in 1898.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pena i Nicolau, Victoria Majorcan writers 1827 births 1898 deaths 19th-century Spanish writers 19th-century Spanish women writers People from Palma de Mallorca