Josefina de la Torre

Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1907, Josefina de la Torre grew up in a cultured family environment that nurtured her early artistic vocation. Already writing poetry as a young woman, her inclusion in Cossío's 1932 anthology placed her alongside the leading names of the Generación del 27 at a time when female voices were rarely afforded such equal standing. Her poetry, with its clean imagery and personal lyric accent, naturally transcends the conventions of its era.

Alongside her literary work, Josefina de la Torre built a distinguished career in film and theatre. She was one of the first actresses of Spanish sound cinema in the 1930s and 1940s, and her stage presence and her command of voice — extended also into singing — made her a singular figure within twentieth-century Spanish culture.

For decades her poetic work fell into relative obscurity, overshadowed by the prominent male figures of her generation. It was from the 1980s and 1990s onwards that critics and readers began to recover her legacy with the justice it deserved. She died in Madrid in 2002 at the age of ninety-five, having lived through nearly the whole century and having witnessed, at last, the recognition long owed to her.