Concha Espina

Concha Espina was a prolific and popular writer in the first half of the 20th century. She was born in Santander, Spain, in 1869. She married Ramón de la Serna y Cueto in 1893 and moved to Chile with him for a few years. They had five children, but separated in 1909. Concha Espina settled in Madrid with her children and devoted herself to writing. She published novels, poems, stories, essays and biographies. She was influenced by regionalism, naturalism and modernism. She wrote about the rural life of Cantabria, the social problems of her time, the role of women and the Spanish history and culture. Some of her most famous works are La niña de Luzmela (1909), La esfinge maragata (1914), Altar mayor (1926) and El metal de los muertos (1920). She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 25 times in 28 years. She also received several awards and honors, such as the Fastenrath Prize from the Royal Spanish Academy, the National Literature Prize of Spain, the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise and the Gold Medal of Merit at Work. She went blind in 1940, but continued to write until her death in 1955. She was buried at the Cementerio de la Almudena in Madrid. She is considered one of the most important female writers of Spanish literature.