TEMPORARY EXHIBITION: CARMEN CONDE'S JUBILEES

The exhibition commemorates the 90th anniversary of the publication in 1934 of Carmen Conde's second collection of poems entitled Júbilos. Poems of children, roses, animals, machines and winds.

This publication marked the first great consecration of Carmen Conde as a writer and was even declared a reading book in National Schools in the Official Bulletin of the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts of Spain. The prologue of the collection of poems is by the writer Gabriela Mistral, future Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1945, and is illustrated by the avant-garde artist Norah Borges, as pointed out by the curators of the exhibition Cari Fernández and Fran Garcerán of the Carmen Conde-Antonio Oliver Trust.

During the tour of the exhibition we will be able to see manuscripts, photos and drawings that form part of Carmen Conde's personal legacy, which is kept by the Cartagena City Council in the Patronato Carmen Conde y su Museo. From the first edition of the publication, to the handwritten prologue by Gabriela Mistral and some drawings by Norah Borges, are part of the exhibition.

The exhibition of these documents is complemented by large panels displaying a selection of poems by Júbilos, and a short audiovisual presentation that brings us closer to the figure of Carmen Conde.

Carmen Conde is one of the most important milestones in our recent history, as she was the first woman to receive the National Prize for Literature in 1967 and to be elected a full member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1978. Among other distinctions, she was also recognized by the Spanish Center for Cinema for Children and Youth as a Pioneer of Children's Cinema in Spain in 1982 and received the National Prize for Children's and Youth Literature in 1987.

Today, the personal archive of Carmen Conde, which she bequeathed by testament to the City Council of Cartagena and forms the current Carmen Conde-Antonio Oliver Trust, is the largest public archive belonging to a writer preserved in Spain, in Europe and, as far as is known, in America. As the curators point out, thanks to the enormous care with which Carmen Conde preserved her archive, all the materials on display belong to her personal legacy.

The opening of the exhibition coincides with the presentation of the new edition of the book Júbilos . Poems of children, roses, animals, machines and wind, published by Torremozas under the supervision of Cari Fernández and Fran Garcerá . The students of Libreta Mandarache will offer a reading of some poems.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 15 October 2024 to 29 January 2025.

About the commissioners:

Cari Fernández Hernández has a degree in Hispanic Philology and a Diploma in Library Science and Documentation. Since 1996, the year of Carmen Conde's death and the reception of her cultural legacy by the Cartagena City Council, she has worked at the Carmen Conde-Antonio Oliver Trust. Together with Fran Garcerá, she has produced various critical editions, such as the documentary trilogy by Carmen Conde and Amanda Junquera in 2021 (Poems to Amanda, Epistolary 1936-1978 and Theatre); the Epistolary (1944-1986) between Carmen Conde, Amanda Junquera, Alfonsa de la Torre and Josefina Romo Arregui (2022); or, most recently, the collection of poems Júbilos (2024) by the Cartagena writer.

Fran Garcerá holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of Valencia. He was a predoctoral FPI researcher at the CCHS of the CSIC in Madrid between 2015 and 2019. He has published scientific editions of the works of Margarita Ferreras, Mercedes Pinto, Concha Méndez, María Cegarra Salcedo, Carmen Conde, Concha Espina, Josefina de la Torre, Pilar de Valderrama, Amalia Domingo Soler, Eladia Bautista y Patier, Dolores Catarineu, Josefina Romo and María Dolores de Pablos, among others. He compiled the correspondence kept by the writers Carmen Conde and María Cegarra Salcedo between 1924 and 1988 (Torremozas, 2018), the most extensive correspondence exchanged by two Spanish authors and published to date. Together with Marta Porpetta, he has published the volume Versos con faldas. History of a literary gathering founded by Gloria Fuertes, Adelaida Las Santas and María Dolores de Pablos (Torremozas, 2019). In 2020, she obtained the Visiting International Fellowship Award from the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland (AHGBI), to disseminate her research in different universities and cultural centers in the United Kingdom. Today she is an Archive and Library Technician at the Carmen Conde-Antonio Oliver Trust of the Cartagena City Council.

From October 15 to January 29, 2025

Cartagena Roman Theatre Museum
Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 9
30201 Cartagena, Murcia (Spain)
Telephone: (+34) 968 504 802
www.teatroromanocartagena.org

Cartagena City Council. Carmen Conde- Antonio Oliver Board of Trustees

Commissioners

Charity Fernandez

Fran Garceran

Cartagena Roman Theatre Foundation:
Cartagena City Council
Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia
Caja Murcia Foundation

Iberdrola Foundation