Madelag (Emelia Manuela Alemán) was born in Panama City, Republic of Panama. and is affectionately known as Manuelita. She graduated from San Jose High School and Holy Name College in Oakland, CA, USA.
By the end of the 40's, she started her career as a journalist in the local newspapers under the pseudonym Madelag. She worked as a reporter and was in charge of special sections in El Panama America, La Estrella de Panama, El Pais and Epocas magazine. For more than ten years she directed a children's program on Radio Programas Continental (RPC). She also published the weekly Children's Page that began in El Panama America and later continued in La Estrella de Panama. This column included as a special theme Madelag's Story without a Title. Each week, the best title was chosen, and the winner was awarded a prize by the newspaper. Mexico's Journalists' Circle awarded her an Honorary Diploma for her work in favor of children.
For more than twenty-five years she has worked in the Panamanian Tourism Institute (IPAT according to its Spanish acronym) as Promotional Director.
In 1958, she received Honorable Mention in the Ricardo Miro National Literary Contest in the short story section for her work Rombos. As a member of the Teatro en Circulo theater, she received the national Crispin Ovalle Award as the best character actress of the year. During Panama's Centennial Celebration, the National Cultural Institute (INAC) published a selection of her children's stories entitled Los Cuentos de Madelag (Madelag's Stories).