This 2025, continuing with its philatelic series dedicated to Women Writers, Correos dedicates a stamp to Ana María Ibars Ibars. The image of the stamp, together with a portrait of the writer, features three of her best-known works.
Ana María Ibars Ibars (1892-1965) was born in Valencia, where her parents Juan and Josefa, originally from Benissa, were working for a prominent fruit exporter. Back in Dénia, where the businessman had his business, María grew up next to the raisin warehouses that brought together a large number of workers, and especially working women, with their human and work conflicts. Her experiences, the city, the countryside and the landscape of Dénia, the Montgó and the sea, will mark her literary work, both in verse and prose. Texts written in Penyamar, her house in les Rotes, next to the sea and in “the shadow of the Montgó”, as the author indicates.
Of humble origins, her vocation for study allowed her to train in teaching in Valencia, obtaining a position as a teacher at Font de la Figuera, where she met her husband, Vicente Payá, and where her children were born: Raquel and Vicente-Darío. The year 1934 marked a change in her life when she moved with her children to work in Valencia. There she joined the Valencian circles of Lo Rat Penat with the help of Carles Salvador, a former classmate. She obtained the title of teacher of Valencian and published poems and texts in her language in the press. The Civil War and the difficult post-war period put a stop to all initiatives. Our author, with a firm and solitary character, published her work with great difficulty. In 1949, Poemes de Penyamar appeared and in 1951 some poems from Ram a l’amiga, partly unpublished. Her narrative work took even more years to see the light. In Spanish she published Como una garra (1961) and Graciamar (1963); In Valencian, she was a pioneer in the genre. Her most notable works were Vides planes (1962) and L’últim serf (1965). She also published plays, Contalles (1961-1966) and collaborated in the weekly La Marina (1960-1965). After a short silence, she died in Valencia on January 9, 1965.
Rosa Seser
