Francisca Aguirre Benito (27 October 1930 – 13 April 2019) was a Spanish poet and author. Her first poetry collection, Ithaca, published in 1972, won her the Leopoldo Panero Poetry Award. In 2011, she won the National Poetry Award for her poetry piece Historia de una anatomía. Aguirre also won the National Prize for Spanish Literature in November 2018.
Biography Aguirre was born in Alicante, the daughter of noted painter Lorenzo Aguirre. When she was young, Aguirre and her family fled to France due to the Spanish Civil War and were forced to live in political exile. Due to the German invasion of France during World War II, Aguirre's family returned to Spain where her father was killed under Francisco Franco's regime. She was married to fellow poet Félix Grande from 1963 until his death in 2014. In 1965, Aguirre and Grande had a daughter, poet and essayist Guadalupe Grande. She was an aunt of poet Carlos Martínez Aguirre. Her works have been translated into English, French, and Italian.
Aguirre died in Madrid on 13 April 2019, at the age of 88.
Works
Ithaca (1972); English translation: Ithaca (2004) La otra musica (1972): English translation: The Other Music: Selected Poems from the 1970s (2011) Espejito, espejito (1995) Triste asombro (2001) Que planche Rosa Luxemburgo (2002) Ensayo general Poesia completa 1966-2000 (2000) La herida absurda (2006) (2007) Historia de una anatomia (2010) Los maestros cantores (2011) Detrás de los espejos: Antología 1973-2010 (2013) Qué mar somos (2019) Prenda de abrigo (2019) Pavana del desasosiego Los trescientos escalones
Awards Leopoldo Panero Award, (Ithaca, 1971) City of Irún Award, 1976 Galiana Award (Que planche Rosa Luxemburgo, 1994) Esquío Award, 1995 Prize Maria Isabel Fernandez Simal, 1998 Valencian Critic Award for his entire work, 2001 Alfons el Magnànim Award, 2007 Poetry Prize "Real Sitio and Villa de Aranjuez", 2009 Miguel Hernández International Award, 2010 National Poetry Award, 2011. Favorite Daughter of Alicante in 2012. National Prize for Spanish Letters, 2018.
References