Alegría is the author of poetry collections, including La mujer del río/Woman of the River (1989); Fuga de Canto Grande (1992); and Soltando amarras (2002). She won the Casa de las Américas prize in 1978 for Sobrevivo. Her fiction includes the novellas El detén (1977), Albúm familiar (1982), and Pueblo de Dios y de Mandinga (1985). Alegría also wrote Tres cuentos (1958) and other works for children. She was awarded the 2006 Neustadt Prize and the 2017 Premio Reina Sofia de Poesia Iberoamericana award.
Born in Nicaragua and raised in El Salvador, Alegría moved to DC in 1944 and earned a B.A. from the George Washington University in 1948. She was known for her close associations with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) that overthrew the Somoza government in Nicaragua, and her commitment to nonviolent resistance; she is part of the group known as “la generacion comprometida” (the committed generation) of Central America of the 1950s and 60s.
The Homes
