The lecture “Teresa Wilms Montt, Brief and Fatal” is part of the second edition of the series “Hispanic Women: Creators of History and Culture in Spanish,” organized by Casa de América, the Círculo de Orellana, and the Community of Madrid, through the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the Office of the Spanish Language. The event will take place on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the Gabriela Mistral Amphitheater. Entrance at Calle Marqués del Duero, 2. Registration required.
Teresa Wilms Montt was a Chilean poet and writer, born in Viña del Mar in 1893 and died in Paris in 1921. The granddaughter of a president of the Republic of Chile, at the age of 17 she married a nephew of another president, José Manuel Balmaceda. In 1915, her infidelity with a first cousin of her husband was discovered, causing a great scandal. She was forced to enter a convent under threat of losing custody of her two daughters. In 1916, with the help of the poet Vicente Huidobro, she fled to Buenos Aires, where she had a tumultuous relationship that ended with her suitor’s suicide.
In 1917, she was arrested in New York on suspicion of espionage for Germany and, a year later, settled in Madrid, where she frequented the literary and artistic bohemian scene. Ramón del Valle-Inclán wrote the prologue to one of her books, and she was portrayed by Julio Romero de Torres. In 1920, she moved to Paris, where she committed suicide on December 24, 1921, at the age of 28. She is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
During her lifetime, she published five books: Sentimental Concerns (Buenos Aires, 1917), The Three Songs (Buenos Aires, 1917), In the Stillness of Marble (Madrid, 1918), Anuarí (Madrid, 1919), and Stories for Men Who Are Still Children (Buenos Aires, 1919). Her Intimate Diaries and other writings were published posthumously.
Welcome:
– León de la Torre, Director General of Casa de América.
– Leticia Espinosa de los Monteros Rosillo, Founder and President of the Orellana Circle.
Speaker:
– Carlos Franz, writer. Member of the Chilean Academy of Language and corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy.