María Teresa León facts for kids

María Teresa León Goyri (born October 31, 1903 – died December 13, 1988) was a Spanish writer, activist, and cultural ambassador. She was born in Logroño. Her aunt, María Goyri, was a famous Spanish feminist and writer. María Teresa León later married the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti. She wrote many articles for the newspaper Diario de Burgos and published children's books like Cuentos para soñar (Tales for Dreaming).

Her Early Life and Studies

María Teresa grew up in a family that moved a lot because her father, Angel León Lores, was a colonel in the Spanish army. Her home was always full of books. As a girl, she lived in Madrid, Barcelona, and Burgos. She loved reading books by famous authors like Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Moving around so much really shaped her life.

Her mother, Oliva Goyri, was a very modern woman for her time. She sent María Teresa to study at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Free Institution of Education), a special school where her aunt, María Goyri, taught. María Teresa studied Philosophy and Literature at university.

In 1920, when she was 16, she married Gonzalo de Sebastián Alfaro. They had two sons, Gonzalo and Enrique. Their marriage didn't last, and María Teresa moved back to her family home in Burgos. There, she started writing articles for the Diario de Burgos newspaper. She wrote about news, culture, and women's rights. She used the pen name Isabel Inghirami.

In 1928, she visited Argentina for the first time. A year later, in 1929, she met the poet Rafael Alberti. They became lifelong partners and married in 1932. That same year, she received a special grant to study theatre in Europe. She traveled to many countries, including Berlin, Belgium, Denmark, and the Soviet Union. She met many important writers and wrote articles about her travels.

In 1933, María Teresa and Alberti started a magazine called Octubre. In 1934, she went back to the Soviet Union for a big meeting of writers. Later that year, she traveled to the United States to raise money for workers affected by a miners' strike in Spain. This event led to different groups joining together to form the Popular Front.

During the Spanish Civil War

When the Spanish Civil War began on July 18, 1936, María Teresa and Rafael were in Ibiza. They quickly returned to Madrid. María Teresa became the secretary of the Alliance of Antifascist Writers. She also started a magazine called El mono azul (The Blue Overall) in August 1936. Many famous writers contributed to this magazine, and it was published almost throughout the entire war.

María Teresa also played a very important role in saving Spain's art treasures. She worked with the Board of Defense and Protection of National Artistic Patrimony. This group saved art from famous places like the Museo del Prado, the Royal Palace of Madrid, and El Escorial from being destroyed by bombs during the war.

At first, the art was stored in the Prado Museum. But after the Prado was bombed, María Teresa and Rafael led the effort to move the art to a safer place in Valencia. Rafael later wrote a play called Night of War in the Prado Museum, where characters from Goya's paintings come to life to defend Madrid.

Life in Exile (1939–1977)

After the war ended in 1939, María Teresa and Rafael had to leave Spain. They went to Paris and worked as translators and radio announcers. When Germany occupied France, they sailed to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There, they met many other Spaniards who had also been forced to leave their country. Being in exile allowed María Teresa to freely criticize the government in Spain without censorship.

In 1941, their daughter, Aitana, was born. During the 1940s and 1950s, María Teresa gave readings of her work to help victims of war and striking workers in Argentina.

Life became difficult in Argentina, and in 1963, after 23 years, they moved to Rome, Italy. Finally, on April 27, 1977, they returned to Spain after almost 38 years in exile. Sadly, María Teresa was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and could not recognize her old friends. She spent her last years in a special care home near Madrid.

María Teresa León died on December 13, 1988. She is buried in a cemetery near Madrid. On her grave are words written by her husband: "This morning, love, we are twenty years old." María Teresa always remembered her first two sons, Gonzalo and Enrique. Her life was marked by two difficult separations: first from her children, and then from her home country.

Her Books and Plays

María Teresa León wrote many different kinds of books:

Short Stories

• Cuentos para soñar (Tales for Dreaming), (1928)
• Le bella del mal amor (The Beauty of Bad Love), (1930)
• Rosa-Fría, patinadora de la luna (Rosa-Fría, Moon Skater), (1934)
• Morirás lejos (You Will Die Far Away), (1942)

Novels

• Contra viento y marea (Against All Odds), (1941)
• El gran amor de Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer's Great Love), (1946)
• Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, el Cid Campeador, (1954)
• Cervantes, El soldado que nos enseñó a hablar (Cervantes, the Soldier Who Taught Us to Speak), (1978)

Non-Fiction

• La historia tiene la palabra (History Has the Word), (1944)
• Memoria de la Melancolía (Memory of Melancholy), (1977) – This is her autobiography, telling her life story.

Plays

• Huelga en el Puerto (Strike at the Harbor), (1933)

Screenplays

• Los ojos más bellos del mundo (The Most Beautiful Eyes in the World), (1943)
• La dama duende (The Phantom Lady), (1945)

See also

In Spanish: María Teresa León para niños