Adela Zamudio

Paz Juana Plácida Adela Rafaela Zamudio Rivero (October 11, 1854 – June 2 1928) was a Bolivian poet, feminist, and educator. She is considered the most famous Bolivian poet, and is credited as founding the country's feminist movement. In her writing, she also used the pen-name Soledad. Adela Zamudio's birthday, October 11th, is a national holiday in Bolivia to honor all working women.

Early life

Adela Zamudio was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 1854, to upper-class parents. Her father, Don Adolfo Zamudio, was an engineer of Basque ancestry who had emigrated to Bolivia from Argentina. Her mother, Doña Modesta Rivero de Zamudio, was the daughter of a wealthy La Paz mine owner, José Claudio Rivero, who employed Adolfo.

In 1926 she was awarded the Bolivian Crown of Distinction award. Her animal trope to critique society was later used by George Orwell in Animal Farm (1945). alt=Black and white photograph of a woman sitting in profile wearing an embroidered jacket and a crown of laurels on her head. Zamudio crowned in gold laurels at the 1926 ceremony in her honor. In 1920, Zamudio's call for girls' education was answered with the opening of the first public high school for women, which was later named Liceo Adela Zamudio. Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose earned a Kirkus Starred review and was a BookLife for Publishers Weekly Editor's Pick.

On November 2, 1989, the Confederación de Instituciones Femeninas ("CONIF") erected a statue in honor of Zamudio in Chochabamba.

A plaza in the Sopocachi neighborhood of La Paz was named for Adela Zamudio, and her granite bust by sculptor Vítor Zapana was placed in the center of Plaza Adela Zamudio in 1979.

In 1980, Bolivia's first female president, Lidia Gueiler, declared Zamudio's birthday, October 11, a national holiday. It is celebrated in Bolivia as the "Day of Bolivian Women."

In 1994, a crater on Venus was named Zamudio in honor of Adela Zamudio. Zamudio is also the namesake of an ant, Hylomyrma adelae.

Zamudio is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor. She is in the place setting dedicated to Virginia Woolf.

Works Ensayos poéticos (Poetic Texts) (1887) Violeta o la princesa azul (Violeta or the Blue Princess) (1890) El castillo negro (The Black Castle) (1906) Intimas (Close Friends) (1913) Ráfagas (Squalls) (1914) Peregrinando (Travelling) (1943) Cuentos breves (Short Novels) (1943) Adela Zamudio: Selected Poetry & Prose, translated from the Spanish by Lynette Yetter, bilingual edition (Fuente Fountain Books 2022) (2023 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, finalist)