The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Dr. Concha Meléndez was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico in 1895 and died in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1983. She was an educator, poet, and writer. Meléndez received her bachelor’s degree in 1922 from the University of Puerto Rico. She taught high school for several years until leaving Puerto Rico to obtain her master’s degree from Columbia University in 1926. In 1932, she obtained her PhD in literature from the Universidad Autónoma de México. She then returned to teach courses at the University of Puerto Rico. She eventually served as the chair of the Hispanic studies department at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. Additionally, she served as visiting professor at Middlebury College in Vermont. Meléndez was the first woman member of the Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española and was recognized for her work by various Puerto Rican cultural institutions, including the Instituto de Literatura Puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Ateneo Puertorriqueño, and Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades. as well as by the Mexican institutions, the Unión de Mujeres Americanas and the Real Academia Mexicana de la Lengua. In 2011, the Casa Biblioteca Concha Meléndez was named a national historical monument by the United States National Parks Service. Her works include Amado Nervo  (Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos, 1926), La novela indianista en Hispanoamérica (Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1961), El arte del cuento en Puerto Rico (Las Américas Publishing Company, 1961), José de Diego en mi memorias (Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1966), and Literatura de ficción en Puerto Rico: cuento y novela ˆ(Editorial Cordillera, 1971), among others.

Works Cited

“Casa Biblioteca Concha Meléndez: Monumento Histórico Nacional desde 2011.” GEO-ISLA, https://www.geoisla.com/2017/05/casa-biblioteca-concha-melendez-monumento-historico-nacional-desde-2011/. 

“Concha Meléndez.” EnciclopediaPR, 16 Aug. 2021, https://enciclopediapr.org/content/concha-melendez/. 

Gil de Lamadrid, Antonio. “Concha Meléndez, escritora.” Proyecto Salón Hogar, Fundación Héctor A. García, www.proyectosalonhogar.com/escritores/ConchaMelendez.htm.