Amira de la Rosa
Amira de la Rosa was a Colombian playwright, poet, journalist, and writer. She wrote the lyrics of the anthem of Barranquilla, Colombia.
Life and career
Early life and education
De la Rosa was born Amira Hortensia Arrieta MacGregor in Barranquilla, Colombia, on 7 January 1895. She was the daughter of Rafael A. Arrieta and Enriqueta MacGregor and the oldest of nine siblings. She was also a granddaughter of poet and politician Diógenes Arrieta. Her interest in writing and teaching began while receiving her primary and secondary education at La Presentación de Barranquilla. At eighteen years old, she married the lawyer Reginaldo de la Rosa Ortega. They had a son named Ramiro. De la Rosa later traveled to Barcelona to study in an international course for training teachers managed by Maria Montessori. She then studied at the journalism school opened by the Spanish Catholic newspaper El Debate.Career
After De la Rosa returned from a trip to Spain, she settled in Barranquilla. In 1926, she founded a school named after the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, whom she befriended while in Spain. Mistral later named a school in her hometown in Chile after De la Rosa on the 30th anniversary of her death.De la Rosa wrote several plays including Madre Borrada, Piltrafa, Las Viudas de Zacarías. The subject of her most well known story, Marsolaire, is the sexual abuse of a girl by her godfather. De la Rosa also contributed to the newspapers ABC, El Tiempo, and El Heraldo.