Ana Ilce Gómez Ortega

Ana Ilce Gómez Ortega (28 October 1944 – 1 November 2017) was a Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and librarian. She is considered an important figure in contemporary Nicaraguan poetry.

Early life and education Gómez Ortega was born in 1944 in Masaya, Nicaragua, in the indigenous village of Monimbó. Her father was Sofonías Gómez, a teacher and painter of religious images who worked to improve literacy in their community, She was the youngest of four children.

Gómez began writing at 8 or 9 years old.

Career Poetry Her poetry was first published in 1964, in the cultural supplement of the newspaper La Prensa.

An opponent of the Somoza regime in the 1970s, though not a formal member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, Gómez later joined the Asociación Sandinista de Trabajadores de la Cultura, an organization of Sandinista artists, in the 1980s. She traveled to other socialist countries on cultural exchanges during Daniel Ortega's first presidency.

She was further recognized for her poetry in 2002 by the Centro Nicaragüense de Escritores, and the following year her literary output was honored by the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua.

Her second collection, Poemas de lo humano cotidiano, was published in 2004. It won first prize in the Mariana Sansón National Contest of Poetry Written by Women, held by the Nicaraguan Association of Women Writers.

She became a member of the Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua in 2006, only the second woman ever to join the literary organization. Her experience as a single mother helped spur her to fight for women's rights in her country.

Selected works

Las ceremonias del silencio. 1975 Poemas de lo humano cotidiano. 2004 Poesía reunida. 2018