RICARDO PALMA

Ricardo Palma

Ricardo Palma Soriano was born in Lima on February 7, 1833. His parents were don Pedro Palma y Doña Guillermina Soriano.
He studied law in the Universidad San Marcos. In 1861, he participated in a failed bomb attack against President Ramón Castilla, so was banished to Chile.

Upon his return, he was elected Senator for Loreto. On May 2, 1866, he participated in combat on May 2, against the Spanish Squadron which bombarded the port of Callao.

From a very young began to write poems, stories and plays. It also put journalism, working in newspaper El Mercurio, El Correo, La Patria and El Liberal.

The first part of their famous "Peruvian traditions", a series of tasty stories episodes, characters and customs of our Inca past and, above all, was published in 1872, colonial. This work gave him great prestige and international recognition.

During the war against Chile, he was correspondent for several foreign newspapers. On January 15, 1881 he participated in the battle of Miraflores. At the end of the battle the Chileans set fire to his house and his personal library.

In 1884, President Miguel Iglesias appointed him director of the National Library of Peru, serving a great work in its reconstruction and equipment. Of those times it comes his nickname of "Librarian beggar". He held this position until 1912.

The distinguished Peruvian traditionalist Ricardo Palma died in Miraflores, on October 6, 1919.