In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s commemorate some of the many brilliant Puerto Rican women that have forged their way into our history with their amazing talent and dedication. From poets to playwrights to educators, these trailblazers have marked their presence in Puerto Rico’s culture. Their writings, novels, plays, and films continue to impact art lovers of all generations.
- Kisha Tikina Burgos
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Born in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, Kisha Tikina Burgos is an actress, dramatist, producer, screenwriter, playwright, and director. Her films Antes que cante el gallo (2016) and Under my Nails (2011) have both been awarded for directing, screenplay, and dramatic performances. Tikina Burgos is also the head writer and screenwriter for Netflix’s Nicky Jam: El Ganador and YouTube’s Bravas. She has written numerous plays including Anoche soñe que me comías (2001), Nívea del encanto (2005), and La memoria de elefantes (2013). Her works have been screened in Cuba, New York, and other places worldwide. Kisha Tikina Burgos continues to work on her upcoming publication, a collection of 365 plays she wrote in the span of 365 days in 2017.
- Myrna Casas
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One of the most influential figures in modern Puerto Rican theatre, Myrna Casas is a playwright, writer, actress, and producer. She obtained her PhD from New York University with her thesis focusing on Puerto Rican Theatre from 1700 to 1824. Casas debuted as a playwright in 1960 with her play Cristal roto en el tiempo, greatly influenced by another local theater icon, René Marqués. She also worked as an actress in Marqués’ play Los Soles Truncos. Her works represent urban and modern Puerto Rican life through the styles and techniques of expressionism, surrealism, and existentialism that highlight the importance and protagonism of women. In 1963, she co-founded the production company Producciones Cisne, which has produced more than 50 plays. There, El gran circo eucraniano received critical acclaim, earning Casas the “Dramaturgia Nacional del Círculo de Críticos” Award in 1988. Some of her other works include Eugenia Victoria Herrera (1964), Absurdos en la Soledad (1964) and La trampa (1974).
- Mercedes Negrón Muñoz
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Considered one of the preeminent feminist writers of postmodern Puerto Rico, Mercedes Negrón Muñoz was a writer, essayist, and poet. Under the aliases of Clara Lair and La Maja del Arte y el Amor, she considered herself a romantic woman, sensible to her town’s hardships. Her first poetry book, Arras de cristal, received awards from the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture and the Puerto Rican Athenaeum, an elite institution devoted to the Island’s arts, music, and literature. Her poetry depicts Puerto Rican everyday life as well as themes of love, feminism, existentialism, erotica, and pessimism. Nowadays, Negrón Muñoz’s legacy continues, as the Island has both a school and a street that honor her name, as well as a non-profit organization that housed victims of domestic violence.
- Irizelma Robles
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Born in 1973, Irizelma Robles defines herself as “a poet and mother or mother and poet,” saying that both titles are her priorities. She draws artistic inspiration from her childhood years and life with her family, especially her grandmother, having written the poem “Una rosa roja, una rosa blanca” in her honor. Her works include De pez ida (2003), Isla Mujeres (2008), Agave Azul (2015), and Alumbre (2016). Her poetry has been included in various anthropologies in Cuba, New York, Portugal, and Chicago. Robles has also participated in various recitals and poetry festivals in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and others.
- Ana Roqué de Duprey
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Also known as Flor del Valle, Ana Roqué de Duprey was an educator, writer and scientist who fought and promoted educational and political opportunities for women in Puerto Rico. She began studying at home at the age of three and became so advanced that she graduated by age nine. She soon became a teacher’s assistant and began teaching out of the comfort of her home. Later, she founded the first ever Puerto Rican newspaper for and about women, titled La mujer. She also wrote in and founded many other newspapers for women and general audiences, including El Buscapie, El Imparcial and El Mundo. Her prominent study Botánica Antillana researches the Caribbean flora, filled with colorful illustrations and notes designed to make the medicinal-agricultural knowledge accessible to the general public. Roqué de Duprey fought for women’s rights on topics such as youth, health, poverty, education, and equality of the sexes.
- Lola Rodríguez de Tió
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With renown recognition in all of Latin America, Lola Rodriguez de Tió was a poet, writer and activist for women’s rights, the abolition of slavery, and Puerto Rico’s independence. Inspired by the independence cry “El Grito de Lares,” she wrote patriotic lyrics on top of “La borinqueña.” She published her first poetry book, titled Mis cantares, in 1876, selling over 2,500 copies. Due to her political views, Rodriguez de Tió was exiled from the Island and moved to Venezuela, and later to Cuba. When she returned to Puerto Rico, she founded the magazine La almojabana with her husband. Her next publication, Mi libro de Cuba, and her revolutionary ideologies caused her to be exiled a second time. Her other works include Claros y nieblas (1885), Nochebuena (1887), and Mi ofrenda (1880). Lola Rodríguez de Tió is now recognized for her patriotism, writings, and promoting the brotherhood association between Cuba and Puerto Rico, as both islands have the same flag design but with inverted colors.
- Giannina Braschi
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Giannina Braschi, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1953, is described by The Liberty of Congress as “cutting edge, influential and even revolutionary.” Her work spans between English, Spanish, and Spanglish, having her work Yo-Yo Boing! (1998) categorized as the first novel written in Spanglish. She’s received awards and fellowships from the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture, the Danforth Foundation, and more. Her poetry has been described as revolutionary and a place where reality and fantasy intertwine. Her other works include El imperio de los sueños (1988), United States of Banana (2011), and Empire of Dreams (1994).
- Julia de Burgos
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Julia De Burgos, born in 1914, is perhaps one of the most recognized Puerto Rican poets worldwide. Her poems explore themes of the Island’s colonial past, the rough history of slavery, the imperialism of the United States, feminist ideologies, and human rights. Some of her most famous poems include “Río grande de Loíza,” “A Julia de Burgos,” and “Yo misma fui mi ruta.” When she moved to New York in 1940, Julia de Burgos became a literary predecessor for the Puerto Rican movement in Puerto Rico and New York. There, she became a contributor and editor for the socialist newspaper Pueblos Hispánicos. She died of pneumonia in 1954 and it was shortly after her passing that she began to receive the artistic recognition she desired her entire career. Her final poetry collection, El mar y tú (1954), was published posthumously by her sister. Schools in New York, Puerto Rico, Chicago, and Philadelphia are named after the iconic poet.
