Olga Nolla
Encyclopedia
Olga Nolla (full name Olga Nolla Ramírez de Arellano) was a Puerto Rican
poet, writer, journalist
and professor
.
(cousin) and ex-governor of Puerto Rico
Don Luis A. Ferré
, her uncle by marriage. Her parents moved to Mayagüez when she was five years old.
together with her cousin, Rosario Ferré. She obtained a Bachelors of Natural Sciences majoring in Biology
. She was particularly interested in Genetics
, even though her true passion was literature.
While in college, her cousin, Ferré, asked her why she was studying Biology when she knew what she truly loved was Literature. Olga answered that what she loved more than Literature or Biology was the truth, and the truth could only be discovered through scientific investigation. Rosario Ferré later writes for the newspaper El Nuevo Día
that Olga later realized that literature could be just as effective as science to discover the truth, not the truth of the natural world, but the truth of the human heart. She also writes that for Olga, writing and the discovery of the truth were always intimately involved.
Both she and Ferré graduated in 1960 from Manhattanville College.
. She married Carlos Conde and has two children Carlos José y a Olga Isabel. She dedicates this part of her life to raising her children.
at the University of Puerto Rico
. She specializes in Hispanic Literature
. Nolla and Ferré created and directed a literary magazine in 1972 called Zona de carga y descarga which was in circulation until 1975. The purpose of this magazine was to circulate the literary works of Nolla, Ferré and other writers in the 1970s. During this period she starts and completes her first book of poems, "De lo familiar".
Nolla divorces her husband Carlos Conde and starts to work as a collaborator in Puerto Rican newspapers, El Nuevo Día
and Prensa Libre
. She also worked for the Government's Consumer Department of Puerto Rico (for 1 year) writing scripts to educate consumers.
In 1978 she starts working at Colegio Universitario Metropolitano (now called Universidad Metropolitana (UMET), a university belonging to the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez. She started as a script writer and long distance teacher of the Center for Televised Studies (now called Long Distance Learning, SEDUE). Nolla was responsible for developing scripts for courses on Occidental Civilizations. She also helped in the production. She later taught Spanish, Art History and Humanities at the Humanities Department of the UMET
where she worked for 20 years. During this time she wrote the majority of her literary works.
Olga Nolla collaborated in many activities and organizations. She participated in the Federation of Puerto Rican Women and was editor of its magazine Palabra de Mujer (Word of a Woman) from 1976-1977. She also belonged to Junta Editorial of Revista Cupey, UMET's magazine, since its beginnings in 1984. She directed the magazine from 1984 to 1997 and also contributed to its by publishing essays and literary criticisms. Many writers also contributed to this magazines.
During the 1990s, Olga Nolla wrote and produced a televised course on Puerto Rican narrative for the Ana G. Méndez
Foundation. She also participated in many literary courses and was a strong proponent of literature by women, especially in Puerto Rico.
Olga Nolla was passionate about history, which is evidence in her predilection of historical novels such as "El Castillo de la Memoria" and "Rosas de Papel". These two novels were supposed to form part of a unifinished trilogy Before her death, Nolla started sketching the novel which would have taken place in mid-twentieth century Puerto Rico until the present.
Before leaving she told her literary agent and friend of thirteen years, Caridad Sorondo, that if something were to happen to her to make sure that the novel was published. Her last novel, "Rosal de papel", was puplished posthumously about a year after her death. Nolla had also told her friend that she had wanted to die while dreaming.
The Metropolitan University (UMET) where she taught for more than twenty years in the Humanities Department, created an online portal dedicated to Olga Nolla. The online portal's purpose is to gather information about the author. She was posthumously honored as Resident Writer.
Rosario Ferré
wrote a poem titled Rosas de papel, allusive to Nolla's book. The poem, dedicated to Nolla is part of her book of poems Fisuras.
, El Nuevo Día
, Mairena, Cayey and Claridad. Some of these are:
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
poet, writer, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
.
Early life
Olga Nolla was born September 18, 1938 in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico to José Antonio Bernabé Nolla Cabrera, an agronomist, and Olga Ramírez de Arellano, also a poet with several publications. She was member of a prominent Puerto Rican family that participated in politics and the arts. She is related to author Rosario FerréRosario Ferré
Dr. Rosario Ferré is a Puerto Rican writer, poet and essayist. Her father, Luis A. Ferré, was the third elected Governor of Puerto Rico, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party. When her mother, Lorenza Ramírez de Arellano, died in 1970...
(cousin) and ex-governor of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
Don Luis A. Ferré
Luis A. Ferré
Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party which advocates for Puerto Rico...
, her uncle by marriage. Her parents moved to Mayagüez when she was five years old.
Education
Olga Nolla studied in Colegio La Milagrosa in Mayagüez during her formative years. She enrolled in Manhattanville CollegeManhattanville College
Manhattanville College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, located in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 it was known initially as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart...
together with her cousin, Rosario Ferré. She obtained a Bachelors of Natural Sciences majoring in Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. She was particularly interested in Genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
, even though her true passion was literature.
While in college, her cousin, Ferré, asked her why she was studying Biology when she knew what she truly loved was Literature. Olga answered that what she loved more than Literature or Biology was the truth, and the truth could only be discovered through scientific investigation. Rosario Ferré later writes for the newspaper El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día is a Puerto Rican newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout Puerto Rico and some parts of the United States.- History :...
that Olga later realized that literature could be just as effective as science to discover the truth, not the truth of the natural world, but the truth of the human heart. She also writes that for Olga, writing and the discovery of the truth were always intimately involved.
Both she and Ferré graduated in 1960 from Manhattanville College.
Marriage and children
After finishing college, Olga Nolla returned to Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. She married Carlos Conde and has two children Carlos José y a Olga Isabel. She dedicates this part of her life to raising her children.
Literary education and contribution
In 1967 Nolla starts her Masters in Literature along with her cousin, writer Rosario FerréRosario Ferré
Dr. Rosario Ferré is a Puerto Rican writer, poet and essayist. Her father, Luis A. Ferré, was the third elected Governor of Puerto Rico, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party. When her mother, Lorenza Ramírez de Arellano, died in 1970...
at the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
. She specializes in Hispanic Literature
Latin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the 20th century, largely due to the...
. Nolla and Ferré created and directed a literary magazine in 1972 called Zona de carga y descarga which was in circulation until 1975. The purpose of this magazine was to circulate the literary works of Nolla, Ferré and other writers in the 1970s. During this period she starts and completes her first book of poems, "De lo familiar".
Nolla divorces her husband Carlos Conde and starts to work as a collaborator in Puerto Rican newspapers, El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día is a Puerto Rican newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout Puerto Rico and some parts of the United States.- History :...
and Prensa Libre
Prensa Libre
Prensa Libre is a Guatemalan newspaper published in Guatemala City by Prensa Libre, S.A. and distributed nationwide. It was formerly the most widely circulated newspaper in the country and as of 2007 it has the second-widest circulation. It is considered a local newspaper of record. It was founded...
. She also worked for the Government's Consumer Department of Puerto Rico (for 1 year) writing scripts to educate consumers.
In 1978 she starts working at Colegio Universitario Metropolitano (now called Universidad Metropolitana (UMET), a university belonging to the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez. She started as a script writer and long distance teacher of the Center for Televised Studies (now called Long Distance Learning, SEDUE). Nolla was responsible for developing scripts for courses on Occidental Civilizations. She also helped in the production. She later taught Spanish, Art History and Humanities at the Humanities Department of the UMET
Umet
Umet or Umyot may refer to:*Metropolitan University , a university system in Puerto Rico*Umet, Republic of Mordovia, an urban-type settlement in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia...
where she worked for 20 years. During this time she wrote the majority of her literary works.
Olga Nolla collaborated in many activities and organizations. She participated in the Federation of Puerto Rican Women and was editor of its magazine Palabra de Mujer (Word of a Woman) from 1976-1977. She also belonged to Junta Editorial of Revista Cupey, UMET's magazine, since its beginnings in 1984. She directed the magazine from 1984 to 1997 and also contributed to its by publishing essays and literary criticisms. Many writers also contributed to this magazines.
During the 1990s, Olga Nolla wrote and produced a televised course on Puerto Rican narrative for the Ana G. Méndez
Ana G. Méndez
Ana G. Méndez was an educator who founded the Ana G. Mendez University System in Puerto Rico.-Early years:...
Foundation. She also participated in many literary courses and was a strong proponent of literature by women, especially in Puerto Rico.
Themes and influences
Olga Nolla was very involved in the fight for women's civil rights in Puerto Rico. For Olga, women's right to liberty was part of he search for the truth. Due to her beliefs, she was victim of derogatory comments from public personalities in Puerto Rico who believed her literary work to be too dangerous for the youth. Her first novel "La Segunda Hija" had a lot of controversy.Olga Nolla was passionate about history, which is evidence in her predilection of historical novels such as "El Castillo de la Memoria" and "Rosas de Papel". These two novels were supposed to form part of a unifinished trilogy Before her death, Nolla started sketching the novel which would have taken place in mid-twentieth century Puerto Rico until the present.
Death
In 2001 Olga Nolla went to New York to visit her children. She died July 30, 2001 at the age of 63 from a heart attack while she slept.Before leaving she told her literary agent and friend of thirteen years, Caridad Sorondo, that if something were to happen to her to make sure that the novel was published. Her last novel, "Rosal de papel", was puplished posthumously about a year after her death. Nolla had also told her friend that she had wanted to die while dreaming.
The Metropolitan University (UMET) where she taught for more than twenty years in the Humanities Department, created an online portal dedicated to Olga Nolla. The online portal's purpose is to gather information about the author. She was posthumously honored as Resident Writer.
Rosario Ferré
Rosario Ferré
Dr. Rosario Ferré is a Puerto Rican writer, poet and essayist. Her father, Luis A. Ferré, was the third elected Governor of Puerto Rico, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party. When her mother, Lorenza Ramírez de Arellano, died in 1970...
wrote a poem titled Rosas de papel, allusive to Nolla's book. The poem, dedicated to Nolla is part of her book of poems Fisuras.
Poetry
- De lo familiar (1973) ("From the familiar")
- El ojo de la tormenta (1976) ("The eye of the storm")
- El sombrero de plata (1976) ("The silver hat")
- Clave de sol (1977)
- Dafne en el mes de marzo (1989)("Daphne in the month of March")
- Dulce hombre prohibido (1994)("Sweet forbidden man")
- El caballero del yip colorado (2000) ("The knight of the red jeep")
- Unicamente mío (2000) ("Only mine")
Novels & Short Stories Anthologies
- La segunda hija (1992) ("The second daughter")(Received the Pen Club Award of Puerto Rico)
- El castillo de la memoria (1996) ("Castle of the memory")
- El Manuscrito de Miramar (1998) ("Miramar's Manuscript")
- Rosas de Papel (2002) ("Paper Roses")
- Porque nos queremos tanto (1989) ("Because we love each other so much")
Other works
Olga Nolla published many of her works in newspapers and agazines such as El MundoEl Mundo (Puerto Rico)
-History:El Mundo was founded in 1919 by Romualdo Real.In 1929, former corrector-turned-administrator Angel Ramos and journalist José Coll Vidal, bought the newspaper when Real retired. In 1946 Ramos was the sole owner of the newspaper.-Acquisitions:...
, El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día is a Puerto Rican newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout Puerto Rico and some parts of the United States.- History :...
, Mairena, Cayey and Claridad. Some of these are:
- Sin Nombre y Caribán
Awards
- Premio Internacional de Poesía Jaime SabinesJaime SabinesJaime Sabines Gutiérrez was a Mexican contemporary poet. Known as “the sniper of Literature” as he formed part of a group that transformed literature into reality, he wrote ten volumes of poetry, and his work has been translated into more than twelve languages...
2000 for "Únicamente mío". - First place in 1994 in the novel category of the Pen Club de Puerto Rico group for "La segunda hija". She entered her poem under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Ariatna.
See also
- List of famous Puerto Ricans
- Rosario FerréRosario FerréDr. Rosario Ferré is a Puerto Rican writer, poet and essayist. Her father, Luis A. Ferré, was the third elected Governor of Puerto Rico, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party. When her mother, Lorenza Ramírez de Arellano, died in 1970...
, Puerto Rican novelist - Ana Lydia VegaAna Lydia VegaAna Lydia Vega is a celebrated Puerto Rican female writer. She has received the Premio Juan Rulfo and the Premio Casa de las Américas . Vega was a professor of French literature and Caribbean studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras...
, Puerto Rican satirist - Giannina BraschiGiannina BraschiGiannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel YO-YO BOING! and the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams , which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States...
, Puerto Rican poet and novelist