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Notes on contributors
Sergio Ramírez
Claribel Alegría (b. 1924, Estelí, Nicaragua; d. 2018, Managua, Nicaragua) was one of Central America’s most important voices in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. After living abroad for many years, she returned to Nicaragua in 1979, after the fall of Somoza, when the Sandinistas came to power. During the 1950s and ’60s, Alegría belonged to what was known as “the committed generation,” and throughout her career she published in various genres—poetry, fiction, essays, and children’s literature—many in collaboration with her husband, Darwin Flakoll. Her publications in translation include Flowers from the Volcano (1982; trans. Carolyn Forché), Luisa in Realityland (1987), Woman of the River (1989), Family Album (1990), Ashes of Izalco (1995), and Halting Steps: Collected Poems (2013). She was awarded the Casa de las Américas prize for Sobrevivo (I Survive) in 1978 and the Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía in 2017. The following memorial text by her compatriot Sergio Ramírez appeared in Carátula 82 (February 2018).