Zoraida Díaz de Schtronn

Zoraida Díaz Chamize (March 1881 – June 14, 1948), better known as Zoraida Díaz de Schtronn, was a Panamanian poet and educator. She is considered the first woman to publish a book of poetry in Panama.

Biography Díaz was born in 1881 in Las Tablas in what was then the Department of Panama, although her birth year is sometimes given as 1880. She was the daughter of Francisco Díaz Medina and Carolina Chamize de Díaz. She went to primary school in her home city, but for secondary school she moved to the capital, where she studied to be a teacher at the normal school there. But she was widowed shortly thereafter when her husband was killed in the Thousand Days' War. His death was followed by that of her younger daughter, who was only 2 years old. She also returned to teaching, serving as director of the Chitré School before returning to teach in Las Tablas. She later worked as a teacher at a boys' school in Panama City.

After Ross' untimely death, Díaz decided to start fresh and found work at the National Archives of Panama, where she remained until her retirement. She wed a third time in 1918, to the Russian Mendel S. Schtronn, a marriage that lasted until his death. However, in 1922 Díaz became the first Panamanian woman to publish a book of verse, Nieblas del Alma. Her second book, Cuadros, followed in 1937.

Díaz was also a founding member of Panama's first feminist organization, the Centro Feminista Renovación. In 1923, she participated as a delegate in the country's First Feminist Congress, and she was an officer in the Feminist National Party.

In 1946, Díaz suffered a stroke that left her nearly paralyzed; a second stroke in 1947 left her nearly blind. She died in Panama City in 1948.

Selected works

Nieblas del Alma (1922) Cuadros (1937)