In a previous submission I reviewed the presence of women in the literary history of Navarre from the Age average to the Golden Age. I will complete this panoramic tour with a necessarily brief examination of Navarre's women writers in the Contemporary Age. We will notice a progressive increase in the number of female names from the 19th and 20th centuries onwards, until the full incorporation of women in Navarre's literature in our days.

I will begin by recalling the new edition of the autobiography of the venerable Sister Antonia Jacinta Navarra y la Cueva (Pamplona, 1602-Las Huelgas, Burgos, 1656); it had already been published in 1678 by Juan de Saracho(Vida y virtudes de la prodigiosa y venerable señora doña Antonia Jacinta de Navarra y de la Cueva), but in 1736 José Moreno Curiel gave to the presses an expanded version: Jardín de flores de la gracia, escuela de la mejor doctrina. Vida y virtudes ... (Burgos, Imprenta de Atanasio Figueroa). As usual, Sister Antonia Jacinta wrote her life "by order of her confessors". The text refers to her deep love of God, her virtues, her visions and mystical experiences, her stigmata and her reputation for holiness.

Gracia Estefanía de Olavide (Lácar, 1744-Baeza, 1775), first cousin of Pablo de Olavide, participated in the gatherings held in the family salons, both in Madrid and in Seville, which were attended by prominent figures of the Enlightenment. He apparently wrote poems, which have not been preserved. He translated Cénie (1750), a sentimental comedy by Mme. de Graffigny, as a contribution to the theatrical reform promoted by Pablo de Olavide and the Count of Aranda. It was premiered in Aranjuez in May-June 1770, at the Teatro de los Sitios Reales, and had subsequent performances. Another translation, Paulina, is also mentioned as his, but it may be confused with Paulina o el amor desinteresado, a novel translated by Pablo de Olavide. Jovellanos dedicated a Sapphic ode to her, "En la muerte de doña Engracia Olavide", where he laments her early death.

Finally, I will mention Antonia de Roda, "a Cistercian nun in the monastery of Tulebras, in Navarra", as the author of a sonnet included in Aliento fervoroso, respiración festiva, voz sonora ... (Zaragoza, 1724).

The figure of María Tadea Verdejo y Durán (Cascante, 1830-Zaragoza, 1854) belongs to the first Spanish romantic generation. Her artistic and literary life developed mainly in Zaragoza and Madrid. Among his poetic works, which he signed as Corina, are an Ode to H. M. Queen Isabella II (1852) and Echoes of the Heart (1853). He also wrote a historical drama, Catalina Cornaro, which was never performed. Verdejo occupied a prominent place in the incipient feminist movement; thus, in La estrella de la niñez ( a work published in Madrid in 1854, with a prologue by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda) she advocated for the Education of women. In addition, she founded and directed (between 1851 and 1852) the weekly La Mujer. A newspaper written by a society of ladies and dedicated to their sex, from whose pages she clamored against prostitution and defended the right of women to work. Charo Fuentes has dedicated a monograph to her, so far unpublished.

In the same category of educators, I will mention Capitolina Bustince Larrondo (Ujué, 1865-Segovia, 1934), teacher of First teaching Superior and author of a Compendio histórico del antiguo reino de Navarra, para uso de los niños de ambos sexos (1898); and María Concepción Saralegui Lorente (Pamplona, 1825-1884), who composed several works of religious content. Her novels were awarded prizes in Catholic circles, as were her poems. Her best known titles are Meditaciones para todos los días de la semana (Meditations for every day of the week) and Ramillete de flores a la nueva imagen de la Purísima Concepción (1858).

Francisca Sarasate Navascués (La Coruña, 1853-Pamplona, 1922) has more literary importance, rooted in Navarre by family ties: she was the sister of Pablo Sarasate and wife of Juan Cancio Mena (hence she signed some books as Francisca Sarasate de Mena). Her Cuentos vascongados ( 1896), thirteen stories whose actions are located in towns of Navarre or the Basque Country, are simple narratives, stories and vulgar lives told without any great technical boast. Un libro para las pollas (1876), subtitled Novela de costumbres contemporáneas relacionadas con la Education de la mujer, bears the apostille "Obra útil a las madres y a las hijas", which reveals its didactic intention; Fulvia o los primeros cristianos (1888) is a novelita written in the manner of Cardinal Wiseman's Fabiola; it presents the story of Fulvia, a young and beautiful Roman patrician converted to Christianity, who dies in the arena of the Circus, thus attaining the palm of martyrdom. Books of lyrical character are Horizontes poéticos ( 1881), Amor divino ( ode published together with Fulvia), Romancero aragonés ( 1894) and Poesías religiosas ( 1899). Lastly, his Pensamientos místicos ( 1910) contains a series of Christian reflections.

María Jesús Fernández de Arcaya y Oroz (Pamplona, 1910-?) published several didactic-sentimental novels in the 1920s: La marquesa incógnita, Hasta el cielo, El amor fue quien venció or Resignación are short stories of a certain narrative naivety, with folkloristic features, characters of little psychological depth and predictable endings.

In 1949, María Dolores and María Rosario Araiz Arano and Ángeles Azanza Yábar published, under the pseudonym Margarita de Navarra, the novel Junto a la Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love nació el amor, a romantic sentimental story starring Zoraida and Armando, with costumbrist descriptions of Ayegui, Irache and Estella. The following year, Consuelo Baquedano, also under the pseudonym Sibyla de Cumas, brought to press her story Iusiurandum (Oath). It is a police intrigue about the death of several members of a criminal gang formed by four men who, in order to commit their crimes, had united their fate by means of a strange oath. Carmen Baroja y Nessi (Pamplona, 1883-1950), who used the pseudonym Vera de Alzate, is the author of verses and children's stories such as Martinito el de la casa grande (1942), along with works of anthropological research . She belonged to the group of women of '98 who fought for the emancipation of women, and her memoirs were published in 2001 by Amparo Hurtado.

Dolores Baleztena Ascárate (Pamplona, 1895-1989), in addition to Romerías navarras, Museo Histórico de Pamplona, Cancionero popular carlista, Saski naski de Leiza or Navarra por Santa María, wrote a novel with a Baztanés atmosphere entitled La casa ( 1959). Sylvia Baleztena Ascárate (Pamplona, 1886-1978), a contributor to Pregón with various literary articles, had published years before her impressions of a trip to the Holy Land: Jerusalem (1924).

María del Villar Berruezo de Mateo (Tafalla, 1888-San Sebastián, 1977), dancer and writer, lived in Paris, hence some of her works were also published in French: Alma desnuda / L'Ame a nu (1953), Mis nocturnes africanos / Nocturnes africains ( 1957), La tragedia de la Luz y de las Sombras (1961), D'oeuf marveilleux / El huevo maravilloso ( 1969 and 1971), Saudades... Toujours (1975); she left unpublished another novel, La odisea gitana. La Carpia, su burro y yo ( 1975), based on his memories of his childhood in Tafalla. Today the Tafalla foundation that bears his name aims to study and publicize his work. The work of Martina Lasa Anaut (Isaba, 1891-San Sebastián, 1985) is part of the rich tradition of local customs: Coplas roncalesas de la tía Martina ( 1968) and Coplas roncalesas (1971), among other works.

María del Carmen Navaz Sanz (Pamplona, 1895-San Sebastián, 1989) began publishing in the 1960s, although her narrative techniques remain anchored in the 19th century. In her writings she always used a literary name: Carmela Saint-Martin, Carmela V. de San Martín, Karmele Saint-Martin. Her literary titles, which extend from 1959 to 1982, are Ligeramente negro, Con suave horror, Después de los milagros, Animalitos de Dios, Señoras de piso, Los demonios mudos, Ternura infinita. Mi marido tiene cáncer, El servicio, Esas chicas que se marchan, finalist of award Sésamo 1969, El perro Milord, Nosotras las brujas, Las seroras vascas, Los rayos paralelos, Nosotros los vascos, Ene, doña Benigna! and Cuentos y leyendas del País Vasco. José Luis Martín Nogales published an anthology of his stories, Cruel Venecia y otros cuentos (1994). His is a narrative that mixes formulas of criminal and horror literature with the topic of evil, with a treatment close to realism, naturalism or even fantasy. The relevance of the female protagonist stands out, as it usually presents women facing harsh realities that narrate surprising events.

Also in the 1960s, María del Carmen Catalán (born 1940) began her career with Mástil de espumas. Poesías ( 1968) and the novel Aquellos ( 1969); and Carmen Iráizoz (Vera de Bidasoa, 1913-Pamplona, 2008), professor at the Escuela de Comercio, who published a trilogy of marked Barojian realism, Cuesta arriba, cuesta abajo, consisting of Belzunegui. El ocaso de una familia ( 1969), Impaciencia ( 1971) and París, piedra de toque (1972), a novel with which she was awarded the Blasco Ibáñez 1972 prize ( award ). María Sagrario Ochoa Medina (Pamplona, 1930) belongs to the same generation. She is a contributor to Pregón and author of three books of poetry: Brote de silencios ( 1974), Huellas en el barro (1998) and Rosas de mi fantasía (2001).

María Luisa Elío Bernal (Pamplona, 1926-Mexico City, 2009), actress and filmmaker as well as writer, is included in the group of writers of the Spanish Republican exile. Her narrative work, consisting of Tiempo de llorar ( 1988), notebook de apuntes en carne viva ( 1995), Tiempo de llorar y otros relatos (2002), Voz de nadie ( 2017) and Tiempo de llorar. Obra reunida (2021), autobiographical and intimate in tone, is marked by the experience of exile, its nuclear topic being the search for self-identity after uprooting. Since 2018 the Library Services Pública de Barañáin bears his name.

María Blanca Ferrer García (Mélida, 1932-Pamplona, 1992), contributor to Pregón and Río Arga, published the poetry collections Tarde gris ( 1967), Yoerías ( 1969), Un león en la basura ( 1982) and El tañedor de lunas (1987). For her part, Izaskun Salegui Rivera (Tolosa, 1950-Arróniz, 2014) cultivated the short story(Encuentros, 2007), poetry(Ecos de versos, 2008), the novel(Domingo de Louzaregos a Euskadi, 2011) and the children's story(Las aventuras de los Maneki Neko). María Pisador (Pamplona, 1976-2007) is the author of a posthumous collection of poems, Las horas conjugadas ( 2007), like that of Pilar Baigorri Arriazu (Tudela, 1961-2013), La aurora tiene columnas de hierro ( 2013).

In the last third of the twentieth century, and so far in the twenty-first, the incorporation of women in literary writing in Navarre is total. Precisely because of the length of the list, it is impossible to deal here with the production of all the women writers currently active in Navarre. I will emphasize, however, that they are cultivating all literary genres, particularly narrative and poetry, but also theater and essay, both in Spanish and in Basque. For more details I refer to the lists established by TK magazine for narrative (2016) and poetry (2017) and to Isabel Logroño's work "Escritoras navarras de los siglos XX-XXI. Influence, visibility and new platforms"(Príncipe de Viana, 2018).