Matilde Kirilovsky de Creimer (24 February 1912 – 13 September 2000), better known by her penname Matilde Alba Swann, was an Argentine poet, journalist, and lawyer. She was one of the first women to earn a law degree at the

National University of La Plata The La Plata National University ( es, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, UNLP) is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province. It has over 9 ...

, in 1933.

Biography

Matilde Kirilovsky was born in

Berisso Berisso is a city and the head town of the '' partido'' of Berisso in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It forms part of the Greater La Plata urban area and has a population of approximately 95,021 as of 2001. People Berisso was founded by Italia ...

on 24 February 1912, the daughter of Russian immigrants Alaquin Kirilovsky and Emma Ioffe. She earned her

baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...

at the Colegio Superior de Señoritas (now Liceo Víctor Mercante) in 1929, and her licentiate in law at the

in 1933. As a lawyer, she focused on defending the interests of minorities and underprivileged children, and served as an advisor to the and the Ministry of Health. She married Samuel Creimer in the 1940s, and they had five children. She published eight books of poetry and countless newspaper articles. She was a

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for the newspaper '' El Día'' during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. She also served as president of the

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

branch of the . Her poems were praised by

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

, and she was close friends with writer

Ernesto Sabato Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary w ...

. She died in La Plata on 13 September 2000, and was buried at

La Plata Cemetery The Cemetery of La Plata ( es, Cementerio de La Plata) is one of the most important cemeteries in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located on the intersection of Avenue 31, 72 and diagonal 74 in Altos de San Lorenzo, La Plata. It was declare ...

Awards and recognition

* Province of Buenos Aires Award for Poetry, 1991 * Santa Clara de Asís Award from the League of Family Mothers, 1991 * Nomination for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

, 1992 * Declared an Illustrious Citizen of the City of La Plata, Post Mortem, 2005 * Augusto Mario Delfino Award for Poetry

Publications

* ''Canción y grito'' (1955) * ''Salmo al retorno'' (1956) * ''Madera para mi mañana'' (1957) * ''Tránsito del infinito adentro'' (1959) * ''Coral y remolino'' (1960) * ''Grillo y cuna'' (1971) * ''Con un hijo bajo el brazo'' (1978) * ''Crónica de mí misma'' (1980)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swann, Matilde Alba 1912 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Argentine lawyers 20th-century Argentine poets 20th-century Argentine women writers Argentine war correspondents Argentine women journalists Argentine women lawyers Argentine women poets Burials at La Plata Cemetery National University of La Plata alumni