Rosario Ferré

Early years

Rosario Ferré (birth name: Rosario Ferré Ramírez de Arellano) was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, into one of Puerto Rico's wealthiest families. Her parents were the former First Family of Puerto Rico Luis A. Ferré (Governor) and Lorenza Ramírez de Arellano She is the niece of the late Sor Isolina Ferré, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Ferré received her primary education at Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 1951, she was sent to Wellesley, Massachusetts and attended Dana Hall School.

Ferré began writing professionally at age 14, publishing articles in Puerto Rico's El Nuevo Día newspaper. In her youth, Ferré was an advocate of independence, despite the fact that her father was pro-statehood (and, later, she too became an advocate of statehood.) Upon graduating from high school she went to the United States where she gained her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and French from Manhattanville College. She is a member of Mu Alpha Phi sorority.

Ferré returned to Puerto Rico where in the 1970s she enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico to study for her master's degree. During her time as a student, Ferré began her writing career as the founder, editor and publisher of the journal "Zona de Carga y Descarga" along with her cousin, Olga Nolla. The journal was devoted to publishing the works of new writers and to promoting the ideas of the independence movement. Among the novelists and short story writers of Puerto Rico to share Ferré's commitment to satire were Ana Lydia Vega and Giannina Braschi. Ferré also has published poems and written a biography about her father. Upon earning her master's degree, Ferré enrolled in University of Maryland where she graduated with a PhD in Latin American Literature. Her doctoral thesis was titled: "La filiación romántica de los cuentos de Julio Cortázar" (The romantic link between the stories of Julio Cortázar).

Career

Ferré began her literary career writing in Spanish. In 1976, Ferré published her first collection of short stories, "Papeles de Pandora". In 1977, she published a collection of her literary essays entitled "Sitio a Eros", which promoted political and social themes. In 1986, she published her first book, "Maldito Amor", which she self-translated into English as "Sweet Diamond Dust". After publishing "Maldito Amor", she began to write the first versions of her other books in English In 2002, she published a bilingual edition of poems "Language Duel/Duelo del languaje".

Ferré worked as a Professor at the University of Puerto Rico and was a contributing editor for The San Juan Star, which was once Puerto Rico's English language newspaper. Ferré has also been a visiting professor at Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University.

Honors

Ferré won the first prize in a short story contest of the Ateneo Puertorriqueño in 1974. In 1992, she was the recipient of the "Liberatur Prix" award from the Frankfurt Book Fair for "Kristallzucker", the German translation of "Maldito Amor". In 1997, she was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Brown University. Ferré was a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient in 2004. She is also recognized at Ponce's Tricentennial Park for her contributions in the field of literature.

Personal

Upon finishing school, Ferré married Benigno Trigo González, a businessman, by whom she has three children: Rosario Lorenza, Benigno, and Luis Alfredo. They divorced ten years later.

While studying at the Department for Hispanic Studies of the University of Puerto Rico, she met her second husband, José Aguilar Mora, a writer and Professor of Mexican literature; they divorced after a few years.

Ferré met her third husband, Agustín Costa Quintano, a Puerto Rican architect, at the University of Maryland, when living in Washington, D.C.. They later moved to Puerto Rico, where they resided. Ferré died of natural causes, surrounded by family on February 18, 2016 in her home in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Written works

Some of Rosario works are:

Fiction

Essays

Poetry

Biographies

Critical studies of Ferré's work