Gioconda Belli

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Gioconda Belli
Nicaraguan
(until 2023)

Gioconda Belli (born December 9, 1948) is a Nicaraguan-born novelist and poet known for her contributions to Nicaraguan literature.

Early life

Gioconda Belli[1] grew up in a wealthy family in Managua.[2] Her father is Humberto Belli Zapata and her brother is Humberto Belli.[3]

She attended boarding school in Spain,[2] graduated from the Royal School of Santa Isabel in Madrid, and studied advertising and journalism at the Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism in Philadelphia.[4] She married[1] and had her first daughter at 19 when she returned to Nicaragua.[5]

Career

Belli began her career at

Pepsi-Cola as liaison to the company's advertising agency, Publisa, which then hired her as an account executive.[6]

Through one of her colleagues at the advertising agency, Belli met

Sandinistas and asked her to join the group.[7]

In 1970,

FSLN's international press liaison in 1982 and the director of State Communications in 1984. During that time she met Charles Castaldi, an American NPR journalist, whom she married in 1987.[12] After 1990 she split her time between Managua and Los Angeles. She has since left the FSLN and became a major critic of the Ortega government. She lives in exile in Madrid.[13]

Writing

Belli in 1989

In 1970, Belli published her first poems in the literary supplement of Nicaraguan newspaper

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua.[15][16]

1988, Belli's book La Mujer Habitada (The Inhabited Woman), a

Premio Casa de las Américas in 1978.[18] In 2008 Belli received the Premio Biblioteca Breve for her book El infinito en la palma de la mano (Infinity in the Palm of The Hand), an allegory about Adam and Eve in paradise.[19]

Belli's books have been published in numerous languages.

Her 2010 book was submitted with the title "Crónicas de la Izquierda Erótica", but had to be changed to "El País de las Mujeres", since the previous title was too similar to that of a 1973 book by Ana María Rodas: Poemas de la Izquierda Erótica. The book tells the story of a world governed by women. In the novel, she portrays a group of women that take power by means of a Political Party named "Partido de la Izquierda Erótica". This is the same name as a movement formed by women during the 80s, to which Belli belonged, which had been named as a tribute to Rodas´ work. Her novel El intenso calor de la luna was released in August in Latin America, and in September 2014 in Spain.[20]

Political activity

Belli opposed the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. From 1970, when she began writing her poems and like many intellectuals of her generation, she joined the ranks of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), at that time a clandestine and persecuted organization whose aim was the overthrow of the Somoza regime. She was a clandestine courier, transported weapons, travelled around Europe and Latin America obtaining resources and spreading the word about the Sandinista struggle. She became a member of the FSLN's Political-Diplomatic Commission.[21]

In 2018, Belli took a stand against the government of Daniel Ortega, which emerged from the 2016 elections, and became an active member of the Sandinista renewal movement.[22][23]

In February 2023, the Ortega government stripped

Chilean Government
offered nationality and asylum to all the Nicaraguans banished by Ortega.

Awards

  • XXVIII "City of Melilla" International Poetry Award
  • "Mariano Fiallos Gil de Poesía" award, Nicaragua 1972
  • "Casa de las Américas" award, Cuba, Poesía 1978[2]
  • Award of the "Fundación de Libreros, Bibliotecarios" and "Editores Alemanes de la Fundación Friederich Ebhert" in 1989 for La Mujer Habitada, the "best political novel of the year"
  • "Anna Seghers de la Academia de Artes de Alemania" award, 1989
  • "Luchs del Semanario Die Zeit a su libro" award for El Taller de las Mariposas, 1992
  • Medal of recognition of the
    National Theater
    of Nicaragua for 25 years of cultural labor
  • "Internacional de Poesía Generación del 27" award, 2002
  • "Pluma de Plata" award, Bilbao, 2005
  • "Biblioteca Breve Award", 2008[19]
  • "Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award" for "best novel", International Book Fair in Guadalajara, 2008
  • "Oxfam Novib/PEN Award" 2019, Winternachten festival in the Hague (with Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour)[25]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b Seaman, Donna. "Gioconda Belli's life as a Sandinista rebel". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
  2. ^ from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  3. from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  4. ^ "Belli, Giaconda | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Halleck, Kenia (Winter 2001). "Gioconda Belli". BOMB Magazine. 74. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  6. .
  7. .
  8. ^ "Authors: Gioconda Belli". Archived from the original on May 3, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  9. .
  10. ^ "Revista Envío - Women, Poetry, New Nicaraguan Culture". www.envio.org.ni. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  11. ^ "GIOCONDA BELLI". www.arlindo-correia.org. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  12. ^ "criticasmagazine.com – Casino Magazin". www.criticasmagazine.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2007.
  13. ^ Carolina, Arenes (2022). "Nueva Sociedad Lejos de una Nicaragua irreal Entrevista a Gioconda Belli" [Far from an unreal Nicaragua. Interview with Gioconda Belli]. Nueva Sociedad (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  14. .
  15. ^ "Biografia de Gioconda Belli". www.los-poetas.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  16. .
  17. ^ "REVOLUTION: A User's Manual". The New York Public Library. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
  18. ^ "Comment, opinion and discussion from the Guardian US". the Guardian. Archived from the original on May 5, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  19. ^ a b "La escritora nicaragüense Gioconda Belli gana el premio Biblioteca Breve" [The Nicaraguan Writer Gioconda Belli Wins the Premio Biblioteca Breve]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid. February 5, 2008. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  20. ^ coruña, a (October 2, 2014). ""Lo que vino después de la Revolución Nicaragüense ha sido decepcionante"". La Opinión de A Coruña (in Spanish). Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  21. ^ Tiempo, Casa Editorial El (October 16, 2016). "Gioconda Belli: la escritora rebelde que ya no cree en la lucha armada". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  22. ^ "Gioconda Belli: "La gente más de izquierda no está con Daniel Ortega"". lamarea.com (in Spanish). June 27, 2018. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  23. ^ Tiempo, Casa Editorial El (June 23, 2018). "'Daniel sembró vientos y está cosechando tempestades'". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 28, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  24. ^ Maldonado, Carlos S. (February 15, 2023). "Ortega despoja de la nacionalidad a otros 94 nicaragüenses, entre ellos los escritores Sergio Ramírez y Gioconda Belli". El País.
  25. ^ Winternachten festival opens with Oxfam Novib PEN Awards ceremon Archived January 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machiney

External links