María Josefa Mujía

María Josefa Mujía (1812–1888) was a Bolivian poet. Blind from the age of 14, she was one of Bolivia's first Romantic poets and is considered the country's first woman writer following its independence. to Miguel Mujía and Andrea Estrada. She grew up during the Bolivian War of Independence (1809–1825) and was the eldest of six brothers. Her early education included Spanish literary classics and the writings of Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Following the death of her father, she became blind at the age of 14. and became one of Mujía's most celebrated poems.

Mujía had depression following the death of Augustus in 1854. Her mother and two of her other brothers died as well. She ceased composing poetry for a time until her nephew Ricardo Mujía took on the role of transcribing and disseminating her verse. He later remarked on the improvisational nature of her poems, recounting that they were never revised or corrected.

Works Mujía authored over 320 poems and wrote a novel. She translated Italian and French works, including those by Alphonse de Lamartine and Victor Hugo. Her compositions were printed in magazines and newspapers such as El Cruzado. and was one of the country's first Romantic poets. Alongside minor poets Néstor Galindo, Ricardo José Bustamante, and Manuel José Tovar, she formed the foundation of Bolivian Romanticism.

Mujía's personal and sorrowful style of poetry draws on her own blindness.

Enrique Finot, in his Historia de la Literatura Boliviana, described her work as being impregnated with a profound sincerity and having a charming simplicity of form.

Her body of work was collected by Gustavo Jordán Ríos in 2009 into María Josefa Mujía: Obra Completa.