Antonio Ortiz Mayans

Antonio Ortiz Mayans, died in Buenos Aires, on May 7, 1995, and due to his poetic works has been granted mentions in many countries such as: Uruguay, United States, Bolivia and Argentina, as a fair award for somebody who did a lot for the Paraguayan culture.

He came back in strange occasions to Paraguay, his country, which he always remembered but due to his political reasons, he had to abandon . He came back as visitor in 1982, when he was a central figure in the homage of the organizers of the Festival del Lago Ypacarai, which was on his behalf that year and which had his name.

It was re edited in 1935, 1937, 1941, 1945, in 1954, with a grammar compendium, in 1959, 1961,1962, and the tenth edition in 1973, obtaining the best splendor, since it has now 12.240 guarani voices, 32.920 Spanish voices and better words added, according to the comments of Roque Vallejos

He entered different literary genders, his main work being the first GRAN DICCIONARIO CASTELLANO-GUARANI, reaching the public in 1933, without much ambitions, because it only had 66 pages and 5000 words, but with a sustain growth in the following editions

Antonio Ortiz Mayans was not the exception and the previous facts surrounding the confrontation between Bolivia and Paraguay, such as the students’ manifestation in front of the government house, on October 23, 1931, which was cruelly repressed by the presidential guard, was one of the reasons of his going away from his country almost for ever.

After the facts on October 23, 1931, with the students of the Colegio Nacional de la Capital, in front of the government house, who demanded the president of the republic, José Patricio Guggiari, concrete actions to defend the chaco territory, always wanted by the Bolivians, which later derived in the massacre of many young students who were killed with machineguns in front of the government house, Antonio Ortiz Mayans had to go on exile to Argentina, where he lived for the rest of his life, developing in the neighboring country a very intense literary work, didactic and journalistic.

For many reasons, the exile of this author to the capital city of Plata was known in the 1930s, men of different cultures used to go to Buenos Aires.

Some of his other works are : "Cantos Nuevos", with a prologue of Dr.Rafael Oddone, edited in 1930, "Zorazábal, su Vida, sus Obras", the Spanish version of Julio Correa`s work "Ñanemba`era`y", "Tataindy nde pyharépe", "Evocaciones de Asunción" and in 1977, "Voces Añoradas".

Antonio Ortiz Mayans (1908–1995) was a Paraguayan writer and composer.

He was born in Asunción, capital of the republic of Paraguay, on June 20, 1908, and according to his own words, his first work was the poem, "Los Amigos", published by the magazine of the Students Center of the Colegio Nacional de la Capital, where he studied and which had a publishing house called "Minerva", symbol of the Greek Culture.