The Life and Legacy of Argentinian poet Alfonsina Storni
With a translation of her poem “I’m Going To Sleep”
Alfonsina Storni was born in 1892 in Switzerland. Not long after, her family relocated to San Juan, Argentina, before finally settling in Rosario, a burgeoning port city. There, her family opened Café Suizo near a train station, where young Alfonsina began working at the age of 10. After a brief stint at the café, she found employment at a local factory.
In 1906, when Alfonsina was just 14, her father passed away. A year later, in 1907, she joined a traveling theater company as an actress, setting off on a tour through the provinces of Argentina: Santa Fe, Córdoba, Mendoza, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán.
Upon her return to Rosario, Alfonsina found that her mother had remarried and moved to Bustinza. She pursued education, earning a teaching degree in 1911. Around this time, her writing began to gain traction. Her first poems appeared in magazines such as Mundo Rosarino and Monos y Monadas. However, during these years, she became pregnant by a married man — a scandalous situation at the time. In response, and perhaps out of embarrassment, she moved to Buenos Aires, where she gave birth to her son Alejandro on April 21, 1912, at the age of 20.
