author
1831–1893
A 19th-century Puerto Rican writer and journalist, he is remembered for lively historical and cultural writing, including an account of the San Juan festivities of 1868. His work also reached into economic questions, showing a broad interest in the life of the island.
by Federico Asenjo y Arteaga
Born in 1831 and deceased in 1893, Federico Asenjo y Arteaga was a Puerto Rican writer and journalist. Surviving catalog and public-domain records identify him with both literary and journalistic work, and they place him among Puerto Rican authors of the 19th century.
One of the works most clearly associated with him is Las fiestas de San Juan, a historical and eyewitness-style account of the celebrations held in 1868. Records of his books also connect him to Estudios económicos: El comercio de la isla y la influencia que en él ha de ejercer el Banco Español de Puerto-Rico, suggesting that his interests extended beyond cultural subjects to the economic life of Puerto Rico.
Detailed biographical information about his personal life is not easy to confirm from the sources available here. Even so, the works linked to his name show an author attentive to Puerto Rico’s public life, traditions, and institutions during a period of major change.