Carmen Conde facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carmen Conde
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| Born | Carmen Conde Abellán 15 August 1907 Cartagena, Spain |
| Died | 8 January 1996 (aged 88) Madrid, Spain |
| Pen name | Florentina del Mar |
| Occupation | Poet, narrative writer, teacher |
| Seat K of the Real Academia Española | |
| In office 28 January 1979 – 8 January 1996 |
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| Preceded by | Miguel Mihura |
| Succeeded by | Ana María Matute |
Carmen Conde Abellán (born August 15, 1907 – died January 8, 1996) was an important Spanish writer and teacher. She wrote many poems and stories. In 1931, she and her husband, Antonio Oliver Belmás, started the first Popular University in Cartagena. Carmen Conde was also the first woman to become a member of the Real Academia Española. This is a very important group that looks after the Spanish language. She joined them in 1979.
Contents
Carmen Conde's Early Life and Education
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Carmen Conde moved to Melilla with her family when she was 7 years old. She lived there until 1920. She wrote about these years in her book Empezando la vida (Starting Life).
In 1923, she passed an exam to work at the drafting room of the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval. She started writing for local newspapers one year later. When she was 19, she began studying to become a teacher at the Escuela Normal de Maestras in Murcia.
Starting a Family and a University
In 1927, Carmen met the Spanish poet Antonio Oliver Belmás. They became a couple. She wrote for magazines like Ley and Obra en marcha in 1928. These magazines were published by Juan Ramón Jiménez for a small group of readers.
In 1929, she wrote her fourth book, Brocal. She finished her teaching studies in 1930. On December 5, 1931, Carmen married Antonio. Together, they founded the first Popular University of Cartagena.
In 1933, they also created a magazine called Presencia for the university. This university had libraries for adults and children. It also showed educational films and organized events like talks and art shows. Carmen also worked as a teacher at a school for young children called Escuela Nacional de Párvulos.
Publishing Books and Facing Challenges
In 1934, Carmen Conde published Júbilos. The famous writer Gabriela Mistral wrote the introduction for it. The book had pictures by Norah Borges. Carmen worked as an Inspector-Monitor at an orphanage until she left in 1935. In that same year, Carmen and Antonio wrote for national newspapers like El Sol. They also wrote for other publications in Spanish America.
When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, her husband joined the republican side. Carmen followed him to different cities in Andalusia. But she returned to Cartagena to take care of her mother. Because of the war, they could not travel to France and Belgium. They had planned to study folklore there with a grant. Carmen also took courses at the Faculty of Letters in Valencia. She passed an exam to become a librarian, but she never worked as one.
Life After the War and Important Achievements
After the Civil War, Carmen Conde moved to Madrid. She lived with a close friend, Amanda Junquera Butler, and her friend's husband. Carmen was able to communicate with her husband, Antonio, who was living in Murcia. In 1945, Antonio was allowed to move to Madrid. Carmen joined him in an apartment.
Antonio Oliver passed away in 1968. Carmen then moved to her friend's home in Madrid permanently. Three years later, Carmen helped to gather all of Antonio's writings into a complete collection.
On January 28, 1979, Carmen Conde was chosen as a full member of the Real Academia Española. She was the first woman to achieve this! She gave a speech called "Poesía ante el tiempo y la inmortalidad" (Poetry Before Time and Immortality). She was mostly known as a poet and inspired many younger writers. She also published eight novels.
Carmen spent her last years, from 1992 to 1996, in a retirement home in Majadahonda (Madrid). In 1992, she wrote her will. She left all the literary works by her and her husband to the City Hall of Cartagena, her hometown. Carmen often wrote about her close friendship with Amanda Junquera Butler in her autobiography and dedicated many of her works to her. In 2007, a book called Carmen Conde: vida, pasión y verso de una escritora olvidada (Carmen Conde: Life, Passion and Verse of a Forgotten Writer) was published.
Tributes to Carmen Conde
- In 1984, a publisher called Ediciones Torremozas created the Carmen Conde Women's Poetry Award to honor her.
- On August 15, 2018, Google celebrated her 111th birthday with a special Google Doodle on their homepage.
See also
In Spanish: Carmen Conde para niños
