Poet and fiction writer · 1928-2021
Poet and fiction writer
Olga Rivero Jordán was a poet and fiction writer born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna on 24 November 1928. She died in the same city on 14 April 2021. A self-taught author linked to La Laguna's cultural life, she developed poetry and prose that engage with Surrealism and the islands' avant-garde traditions.
Born in La Laguna, Olga Rivero Jordán was self-taught. Her daily visits to the library of the Instituto de Canarias were decisive to her literary education. After living for years on La Palma, she returned to Tenerife in the 1970s and took an active part in the cultural life of her native city, where she fostered a literary gathering at the Ateneo de La Laguna.
Although she had published in journals and newspapers, her first book, Los zapatos del mundo, appeared in 1982. It was followed by the poetry collections Las llamas rápidas de la sangre, Poesía inédita (1977-2004), Memoria azul and Solar de manuscritos. Her prose includes Girándula, La ciudad soñada, La imaginista de sueños, Hiladora de luz, Mares and El sentir de la hoguera.
The Biblioteca de Canarias places her voice within Canarian poetry of the 1980s and notes both the personal character of her work and its links to Surrealism and the islands' avant-gardes. In 2018 she received the Premio Victorina Bridoux de las Letras for her body of work, and in 2020 the Government of the Canary Islands honoured her on the Day of Women Writers. Her inclusion in the Biblioteca Básica Canaria and Constelación de Escritoras Canarias has helped bring her work to a wider public.
