María Adelaida Gurrea Monasterio (La Carlota, Negros

Occidental, Philippines, September 27, 1896–Madrid, April 29,

1971) was a Philippine journalist, poet and playwright in Spanish.

She studied in a religious school in Manila (St. Scholastica's College),

where she received her high school and Bachelor of Arts diplomas.

She went to Madrid in 1921, where she worked as foreign

correspondent in several publications in Spanish language, such as La
Vanguardia, El Mercantil or Excelsior.

She was Filipino Literature Ambassador in Spain, where she took

part in several associations for the popularisation and support of her
culture. She founded the Círculo Hispano-Filipino de
Madrid (Spanish-Philippine Society of Madrid) in 1950.

Awards

 Premio Zóbel Award, 1955 for A lo largo del camino.

Works

 Cuentos de Juana. Malay tales from Philippine Islands. Madrid:

Prensa Española, 1943.
 A lo largo del camino. Poetry. Madrid: Círculo Filipino, 1954.
Introduction by Federico Muelas. Drawings by Beatriz Figueirido.
 Más senderos. Poetry. Madrid: the author, 1967
 En agraz. Poetry. Madrid: the author, 1968

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Home > Culture events > Philhispanic Classics > Cuentos de Juana

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PHILHISPANIC CLASSICS

Philhispanic Classics

Cuentos de Juana

Los pájaros de fuego

Cuentos de Juana by Adelina Gurrea

About the Author

María Adelaida Gurrea Monasterio was born on September 27, 1896 in a hacienda in the district of La
Carlota, Negros Occidental (Visayas, Philippines). She came from a family of Spanish origin and was third
of six children. Her family owned a large area of land devoted to the farming of sugar cane, the main
product of this area in the Philippines. She studied at the Colegio de Santa Escolástica in Manila, where
she finished her degree in letters and took a course on bookkeeping. In 1921, she migrated to Spain
where she resided until her death in 1971, although she always kept her Filipino nationality.
Her involvement in the Philippines brought her to participate in the foundation of the Spanish-Filipino
Association in 1934 in Madrid, and in 1950 the foundation of Circulo Hispano-Filipino. She made a few
trips to the Philippines and stayed there for a long period in 1958 after the death of her mother.

Adelina Gurrea´s irruption into literature began in her adolescent years. At the age of 15 she received her
first award in a short story contest conducted by the magazine El Bufón (The Jester). In her youth, and
while still in school, she managed the “Sección Femenina y Literaria”, a section for students of the
newspaper La Vanguardia de Manila. She shared with José P. Bantug the Premio Zóbel in 1956, for his
study of historical medicine and her book of verses, A lo Largo del Camino (1954)