Isabel Bunch de Cortés (April 24, 1845 – 1921) was a Colombian writer, poet, and translator.

Biography

Isabel Bunch was born in 1845 in

Pacho Pacho is a municipality and town of Colombia in the department of Cundinamarca. Pacho is part of the Rionegro Province and the urban centre is situated at a distance of from the capital Bogotá at an altitude of , while the altitude ranges from ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Her father was the English banker and iron baron Robert Henry Bunch Woodside, a personal friend of

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

. Her mother was Dolores Mutis Amaya, great-niece of the Spanish scientist

José Celestino Mutis José Celestino Bruno Mutis y Bosio (6 April 1732 – 11 September 1808) was a Spanish people, Spanish priest, botanist and mathematician. He was a significant figure in the Spanish American Enlightenment, whom Alexander von Humboldt met with ...

; Dolores' first husband was the French general Louis Peru de Lacroix. In 1865, she married the businessman Enrique Cortés Niño. Due to her privileged upbringing, Bunch de Cortés was given an education and traveled abroad, becoming well versed in English and French literature. She produced various translations into Spanish, which were published in magazines and newspapers. She also began writing poetry, which appeared in such publications as ''El Iris'' and ''La Patria'', and she later produced works of fiction. Bunch de Cortés was one of the first Colombian women to publish her work in periodicals. Her prolific writing often touched on themes of her hometown of Pacho, and on women's role in Colombian society. Her work was frequently published under the pseudonyms Belisa or Adah, as was typical at the time, since it was unusual for women to pursue careers as writers. In 1921, while traveling to visit family in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Isabel Bunch de Cortés died on the high seas at age 76. A library in her hometown of Pacho, established in 2011, was named Biblioteca Pública Municipal Infantil Isabel Bunch de Cortés in her honor.{{Cite web , title=Biblioteca Infantil Isabel Bunch , url=https://issuu.com/bibliotecainfantilisabelbunch , access-date=2024-09-05 , website=Issuu , language=en

References

1845 births 1921 deaths Colombian women poets Colombian translators People from Cundinamarca Department People who died at sea