WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH: CORIN TELLADO

Since March is Women's History Month, and since I am a writer, I would like to celebrate the life of Corin Tellado this month.  She was a talented and prolific writer, whom I wish I could emulate.


Born Maria del Socorro Tellado Lopez, Corin was the most prolific writer in all of Spain, which earned her a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for selling the most books written in Spanish.

Corin was a pioneer. A feminist before feminism was cool. She wrote about modern women. Her novels were set in the present and featured as much angst as romance. Maybe because she was a single mother of two and had no time for nonsense.

Her heroines had passionate natures; had bad marriages, bitter divorces; loved the wrong men; had problems with their children; and fought their way to a happy ending. These plots may not seem like such a big deal today, until you consider that in the 40s and 50s, Spain was under strict military rule and literary censorship was a political tool. But Corin prevailed. One of her novels was turned into a movie and won Best Picture at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1984. In 1996, Spain’s TV network adopted several of her novels into what we today call made-for-TV-movies.

Her novels were sold in paperback form and as photonovels (think comic books but with much better art). Her novels were serialized for radio, television and magazines. In fact, for over three decades the Spanish magazine, Vanidades, featured a new full length romance novel from Corin Tellado every week. These magazines were distributed all over Spain and in Spanish-speaking countries, like Puerto Rico.

And that is how I discovered Corin. My grandmother introduced me to her work. My aunt had a beauty parlor and she ordered the magazine for the shop. My grandmother would read them first and share them with me. She wanted me to also read Spanish authors, and here was one who wrote about my favorite subject – romance. And, Corin’s stories were ones I could relate to because they were about young women who graduated from college, worked and were looking for love. Their lives could have been my life!

Recently, I discovered that Corin also wrote erotica under the name of Ada Miller. These were written in English and then translated into Spanish. Ironic, I know.  I have to get ahold of those books and see how far ahead of the curve she was even in the erotica genre.

For more information about this amazing woman, visit www.corintellado.com.

What women are your role models?--mcf