Carmen de Icaza y de León VIII Baronesa de Claret |
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Born | Carmen de Icaza y de León 17 May 1899 Madrid, Kingdom of Spain |
Died | 16 March 1979 Madrid, Spain |
(aged 79)
Pen name | Valeria de León |
Occupation | journalist, writer |
Language | Spanish |
Nationality | Spanish |
Period | 1935-1960 |
Notable works | Cristina Guzmán |
Spouse | Pedro Montojo Sureda (1930-1978; his death); 1 child |
Carmen de Icaza (17 May 1899 – 16 March 1979) was a Spanish novelist from 1935–60. She enjoyed success with her 1936 novel, Cristina Guzmán, which was subsequently adapted for the stage, television and cinema. By 1945, she was a best-selling writer in Spain. Her father was Mexican writer and diplomat Francisco A. de Icaza.
Carmen de Icaza y de León was born on 17 May 1899 in Madrid, the second daughter of Francisco Asís de Icaza y Beña, a Mexican ambassador and poet, and his wife, Beatriz de León y Loynaz, a Spanish niece of aristocrats. She had four sisters: Beatriz, Ana María, María Luz and María Sonsoles, and one bother, Francisco de Asís.
One 1925, her father died, and she began working at El Sol newspaper. In 1930, she married Pedro Montojo Sureda, and in 1932 they had her only daughter Paloma Montojo de Icaza y de León, mother of Íñigo Méndez de Vigo. She started to writing novels in 1935. Pedro Montojo Sureda died in 1978.