Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda

Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (March 23, 1814 – February 1, 1873) was a 19th-century Cuban-born Spanish writer. Born in Puerto Príncipe, now Camagüey, she lived in Cuba until she was 22. Her family moved to Spain in 1836, where she started writing as La Peregrina (The Pilgrim) and lived there until 1859, when she moved back to Cuba with her second husband until his death in 1863, after which she moved back to Spain. She died in Madrid in 1873 from diabetes at the age of 58.

She was a prolific writer and wrote 20 plays and numerous poems. Her most famous work, however, is the antislavery novel Sab, published in Madrid in 1841. The eponymous protagonist is a slave who is deeply in love with his mistress Carlota, who is entirely oblivious to his feelings for her.

Early life

María Gertrudis de los Dolores Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga was born on March 23, 1814, in Santa María de Puerto Príncipe, which was often referred to simply as Puerto Príncipe and which is now known as Camagüey. Puerto Príncipe was a provincial capital in central Cuba in Avellaneda's day, and Cuba was a region of Spain. Her father, Manuel Gómez de Avellaneda y Gil de Taboada, had arrived in Cuba in 1809 and was a Spanish naval officer in charge of the port of Nuevitas. Her mother, Francisca María del Rosario de Arteaga y Betancourt, was a criolla with ancestry from the Basque Country and the Canary Islands, member of the wealthy Arteaga y Betancourt family, which was one of the most prominent and important families in Puerto Príncipe. Avellaneda was the first of five children from her parents' marriage, but only she and her younger brother Manuel survived childhood.