Carlota Garrido de la Peña

Carlota Garrido de la Peña (August 2, 1870 – July 19, 1958) was an Argentine journalist, writer and teacher, known for being the first female journalist from Santa Fe Province.

Biography Carlota Garrido was born in Mendoza, August 2, 1870. In her early teens, she settled in Coronda. In this city, she married Ángel de la Peña. She was widowed at age 26, and left alone to raise four children. Garrido then studied to be a teacher and worked in the Normal School of Rural Teachers of the city.

On June 15, 1895, Garrido founded the magazine El Pensamiento, which she directed during its existence. It was referred to as the "Week of enjoyable reading, customs, religious and social affairs, salon and fashion chronicles, bibliographies, etc." It ceased publication in an uncertain year in the 1900s. In this magazine, named as "the first publication directed by a woman in the province," the Peruvian Clorinda Matto de Turner, Carolina Freyre de Jaime, 3 and Margarita Praxedes Muñoz collaborated; Chilean Fiora Donoso Gioz; and Uruguayan Lola Larrosa de Ansaldo, as well as Macedonia Amavet, Mercedes Pujato Crespo, and Ángela Geneyro from Santa Fe.1 In 1902, together with Carolina Freyre, she founded La Revista Argentina (1902-1905).

As a journalist, she wrote articles for some of the largest newspapers in the country, such as Los Principios of Córdoba, La Nueva Época of Santa Fe, El Cívico of Salta, La Acción of Rosario and La Capital of Rosario and in other media such as the Revista del Consejo Nacional de Mujeres and Revista de Derecho, Historia y Letras de Buenos Aires, among others. She compiled all of the articles in her book Hojas dispersas (Scattered Leaves) (1920).

In 1913, she published her first book, Corazón Argentino - Diario de un niño, a novel made in imitation of Corazón, diario de un niño by Edmondo De Amicis, which was used for a long time in the school system, and had more than six editions. In 1917, she definitively abandoned teaching to dedicate herself to writing.

Death and legacy She died on July 19, 1958, in her adoptive town, Coronda.