María Olimpia de Obaldía

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María Olimpia de Obaldía (9th of September, 1891 - 14th of August, 1985), was a Panamanian poet. The daughter of Manuel del Rosario Miranda and Felipa Rovira, she was born in Dolega, in the province of Chiriquí. She studied at the Escuela Normal de Institutoras in Panama City, qualified in 1913, and worked as a primary school teacher in her native town until her marriage to Don José de Obaldía in 1918.

She published her first book, Orquídeas, in 1926. In 1930, she was granted the title Maria Olimpia de Panama by the Instituto Nacional de Panamá. In 1951, she became the first female member of the Academia Panameña de la Lengua. In 1976, she was made a Commander of the Panamanian Orden Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and in 1983 was decorated with the Orden Belisario Porras. The same year, she received the papal award Augusta Cruz Insigne Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice from John Paul II.

Her writings generally deal with subjects such as maternity and love of family. Her most famous poem Ñatore May, expresses the suffering of women of the Ngöbe Buglé (an indigenous Panamanian Indian group).

[edit] Poetry

Orquídeas Panamá, Imprenta Nacional, 1926
Breviario Lírico, Panamá, Imprenta Nacional, 1930
Parnaso Infantil, Panamá, Ediciones del Departamento de Cultura, 1948
Visiones eternas, Panamá, 1961
Obra Poética Completa, Club Kiwanis de Panamá with the collaboration of Instituto Nacional de Cultura, 1976