Maria de la O Lejarraga

María de la O Lejárraga was a Spanish writer and feminist who wrote most of her works under the name of her husband, Gregorio Martínez Sierra. She was born in 1874 in San Millán de la Cogolla, a town in La Rioja region. Her father was a surgeon and her mother was a cultured woman who educated her children following French programs. María studied at the Asociación para la Enseñanza de la Mujer, where she was influenced by the ideas of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza. She also studied commerce and became an English teacher. She worked as a schoolteacher between 1897 and 1907 and traveled to Belgium with a scholarship to learn about their educational system. In 1899, she published her first book, Cuentos breves, which was not well received by her family. In 1900, she married Gregorio Martínez Sierra, a writer and theater director. They collaborated on many literary projects, such as the magazines Vida Moderna, Helios and Renacimiento. However, María was the main author of most of the essays, poems, novels and plays that were published under Gregorio's name. She also translated works by Shakespeare, Ibsen and Wilde into Spanish. Some of her most famous plays are Canción de cuna, El amor brujo and El reino de Dios. María was also a feminist and a socialist. She defended women's rights to education, work and vote. She was a member of the Lyceum Club Femenino, a cultural association for women. She also joined the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and was elected deputy for Granada in 1933. She was vice-president of the Commission for Public Instruction and advocated for progressive reforms in education. After the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, María went into exile in France and later in Argentina. She continued writing and publishing under her own name or as María Martínez Sierra. She also wrote two autobiographical books: Una mujer por caminos de España and Gregorio y yo: medio siglo de colaboración, where she revealed her authorship of most of Gregorio's works. She died in Buenos Aires in 1974 at the age of 99.