Sara de Ibáñez
Sara de Ibáñez was a prominent Uruguayan poet born on January 11, 1909, in Paso de los Toros, Uruguay. Initially raised in a pastoral environment, she developed a deep love for nature, which later influenced her poetry. Ibáñez began writing at the age of ten, and her literary journey blossomed after her family moved to Montevideo, where she engaged in literary workshops and met her husband, Roberto Ibáñez, in 1923. Her literary career took off in 1940 with the publication of her first poetry collection, *Canto*, which was well-received and included a prologue by the renowned poet Pablo Neruda.
Throughout her life, Ibáñez received several prestigious awards for her work, including the Ministry of Public Instruction Prize and the Ministry of Culture Prize for her collection *La batalla*. In addition to writing, she shared her passion for literature by teaching and pursued other artistic interests, such as music. Her literary legacy continued posthumously, as she was awarded the Biannual National Award for Literature in 1971-1972. Sara de Ibáñez passed away on April 3, 1971, in Montevideo, leaving behind a significant impact on the Uruguayan literary scene.
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Subject Terms
Sara de Ibáñez
Writer
- Born: January 11, 1909
- Birthplace: Paso de los Toros, Tacuarembó, Uruguay
- Died: April 3, 1971
- Place of death: Montevideo, Uruguay
Biography
Sara de Ibáñez was born on January 11, 1909, as Sara Iglesias Casadei, daughter of Teófilo Iglesias and Amina Casadei, in Paso de los Toros in the Department of Tacuarembó in Uruguay. She spent her childhood and early adolescence in a pastoral setting where she developed a passion for nature that would later enrich the images of her poetry. She began writing poetry at age ten, and as her writing and her love of poetry grew, she participated in numerous literary workshops.
In 1923, her family moved to Montevideo, where she attended the School of Catholic Sisters. At a writing event, the aspiring poet met Roberto Ibáñez, a young professor and poet, and they were married on January 17, 1928. The couple had three daughters, Ulalume, Suleika, and Solveig, all of whom became writers.
Her husband’s connections in Argentinean and Uruguayan literary circles helped bring attention to Ibáñez’s poetry. Although she had written in obscurity for years, Ibáñez’s literary career finally began in 1940 when she published her first volume of poetry, Canto, at the age of thirty-one. Pablo Neruda, whom her husband had met at the International Conference of Democracies, wrote the prologue to Canto and arranged for the publication of the book after seeing the pages of her poetry lying on a table during a visit. The themes of her first collection—death, solitude, poetic creation—reappear throughout Ibáñez’s works. Her publication received immediate recognition: Canto won the 1940 Prize of the Ministry of Public Instruction, a prize she would claim several times in later years.
In 1941 she won an award from the Ministry of Public Education and a gold medal from the Municipal Commission of Culture, for Canto a Montevideo, an extended poem in praise of the Uruguayan capital, prompted by a contest, which became Ibáñez’s second book. Two years later, Ibáñez won a different contest sponsored by the Association of Intellectuals, Artists, Journalists, and Writers with “Soneto a Julio Herrera y Reissig.”
In 1945, Ibáñez began teaching literature in a college-preparatory school, and while she continued to produce award-winning collections of poetry, she also enjoyed other creative pursuits, including music: She had a beautiful voice and played the piano and mandolin. Her fourth volume of poetry, Pastoral, published in 1948, was awarded another Ministry of Public Education prize.
In 1958, Ibáñez made a recording for the Library of Congress Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape, reading from her verse. She made a second recording at the Autonomous National University of Mexico ten years later, one year after her collection La batalla (the battle) received the Ministry of Culture Prize in 1967. Sara de Ibáñez died on April 3, 1971, in Montevideo from glandular leukemia. Ibáñez was posthumously awarded the Biannual National Award for Literature (1971-1972) from the Ministry of Education and Culture.