Writer

CARMEN
LYRA
Educator
Founder
 Inglés 574
lic Ricardo Valladares
WORLD
march 16th LITERATURE
Yini Alexa Castellanos Espinal – 31821222
Lizzy Gricelia Osorto Moncada – 32211229
José André David Alvarado – 31721544
Katherine Denisse Alonzo Artiles – 11741105
Name and country Writer
CARMEN
of origin and facts LYRA
Educator
Founder

María Isabel Carvajal

Quesada,
Her pseudomin was Carmen Lyra, was born
in San José on January 15, 1888.

Writer, educator who renewed methods and institutions and founded the first
children's magazine in Costa Rica, founder and one of the most important leaders
of the Communist Party of Costa Rica.

She became internationally famous for writing one of the most important books of
Costa Rican literature, “Los Cuentos de Mi Tía Panchita”, in which she creatively
reworked motifs from universal folklore while appealing to the Costa Rican reader
through local speech and the mention of familiar environments, objects and
places, was one of the earliest writers to criticize the dominance of the fruit
companies.

In 1948, she was forced into political exile in Mexico after the Costa Rican Civil
War and died there. The Costa Rica Legislative Assembly awarded her the honour
of Benemérita de la Cultura Nacional in 1976. As of 2010 Carmen Lyra is
depicted in the twenty thousand colones bill.

Twenty thousand colones bill.

1
 CARMEN
Writer
LYRA
Educator
Founder
• La niña sol, (children´s theater)
• Había una vez, (children´s theater)
• Las fantasías de Juan Silvestre
(1916)
• En una silla de ruedas (1917)
• Cuentos de mi tía Panchita (1920)
(23 short stories)
• El tonto de las Adivinanzas
• Uvieta
• Juan, el de la Carguita de Leña
• Escomponte Perinola
• La Mica
• El Cotonudo
• La Cucarachita Mandinga
• La Suegra del Diablo
• La Casita de las Torrejas
• La Flor del Olivar
• La Negra y la Rubia
• El Pájaro Dulce Encanto
• Salir con un Domingo Siete
• Tío Conejo y Tío Coyote
• Porqué Tío Conejo Tiene las
Orejas Tan Largas
2
Literary Work
• Cómo tío Conejo les jugó sucio a
tía Ballena y a tío Elefante
• De cómo tío Conejo salió de un
apuro
• Tío Conejo comerciante
• Tío Conejo y los quesos
• Tío Conejo y los caites de su
abuela
• Tío Conejo y el Yurro
• Tío Conejo y el caballo de Mano
Juan Piedra
• Tío Conejo ennoviado
• ¿Qué habrá sido de ella? (1922)
• El barrio Cothnejo-Fishy (1923)
• Siluetas de la maternal (1929)
• Bananos y Hombres (1933)
• El grano de oro y el peón (1933)
• Complete Works (1972)
• La cucarachita mandinga (1976)
• Selected Stories (1977)
Main Writer
CARMEN
Contributions LYRA
Educator
Founder

Literature
She is the writer who is closest to realism in her beginnings in Costa Rica. She has
been considered the founder of the social realist narrative in Costa Rica, after
writing her interesting stories: “Bananos y Hombres” and “Siluetas de la
Maternal” that gave her great renown in Costa Rica and abroad.

Society
Lyra began to get politically involved against nationalism and joined the Costa
Rican Communist Party in 1931, which had consequences in her position as
director of the Maternal School, from which she was dismissed. She also left
literature aside and dedicated herself to fighting for equal pay between men and
women and the right to vote.

Carmen Lyra participated in the creation of the Single Union of Working Women,
the Organization of Costa Rican Teachers and the National Children's Trust. She
died in exile in Mexico, after having participated in the civil war in her country,
which she had to leave in 1948. In 2010 her portrait appeared on the new
20,000 colón bill.

3
 CARMEN
Bibliography
Writer

LYRA
Educator
Founder

ANEP. (s.f.). Carmen Lyra. Obtained from Asociación

de Empleados Públicos y Privados:
https://anep.cr/carmen-lyra/
CNDH. (s.f.). Nace María Isabel Carvajal Quesada
Activista, escritora, pedagoga y política
costarricense. Obtained from CNDH México:
https://www.cndh.org.mx/index.php/noticia/nac
e-maria-isabel-carvajal-quesada-activista-escrit
ora-pedagoga-y-politica-costarricense
EcuRed. (s.f.). Carmen Lyra. Obtained from EcuRed:
https://www.ecured.cu/Carmen_Lyra
Mujeres Bacanas. (s.f.). Carmen Lyra (1887-1949).
Obtained from Mujeres Bacanas:
https://mujeresbacanas.com/carmen-lyra-1887
-1949/

4
 Writer
CARMEN
LYRA
Educator
Founder