The Spanish writer and theater author Antonio Gala dies at 92

USPA NEWS - The writer and theater author Antonio Gala, the last of the great exponents of the success of 20th century Spanish literature, died on Sunday in Córdoba, his hometown, at the age of 92. He had been secluded in his Cordoba house for a decade, although he continued to write and sponsor young artists until the moment of his death. The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, pointed out, as soon as he heard the news, that “we have lost one of our greatest writers. Antonio Gala knew how to capture human sensitivity through his narrative, his poetry and his theater.”

“Our memory of Antonio Gala. The human condition made poetry and sensitivity made word," wrote the King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia. Theater author, novelist, poet and essayist, Antonio Gala began writing very young. At only five years old he wrote his first short story and at seven, his first play. It was the beginning of a prolific literary career that was always recognized for its quality, its sensitivity and its arguments. Antonio Gala is the author of great works such as 'The green fields of Eden' or 'The crimson manuscript'. For these, among others, he was recognized with the Gold Medal for Fine Arts awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

In 1951, at the age of fifteen, he entered the University of Seville to study Law, and enrolled free of charge in Madrid in two other majors: Philosophy and Letters, and Political and Economic Sciences. During his university years he published his first poems in magazines of the time such as Escorial, Platero and Cántico, and founded two magazines: Aljibe and Arquero de Poesía, with fellow writers Gloria Fuertes and Julio Mariscal Montes. Once graduated, he started competitive examinations for State attorney obeying the mandate of his father, but he dropped out in the second year. During the following years he lived in Jerez de la Frontera and Córdoba. Back in Madrid he taught Philosophy and Art History in different schools to earn a living, and in 1962 he went to Italy, where he stayed for almost a year.

By then, Antonio Gala had written the book of poems 'Intimate Enemy' (1959) for which he received a second prize for the Adonais Poetry Prize. In the spring of 1963, back in Spain, he received the Las Albinas award for his story 'Summer Solstice'. In July he was awarded the Calderón de la Barca National Prize for his comedy 'Los Verdes Campos del Edén'. Thus he begins a long and fruitful career as a theater author, during which he writes plays such as 'Rings for a Lady' (1973) or 'Petra Regalada' (1980).

He wrote the libretto for the opera 'Cristóbal Colón', with music by Leonardo Balada, premiered at the Liceo de Barcelona in 1989. He is the author of a wide body of work that includes articles, novels and television scripts, such as those for the series 'Paisaje con figuras ', published as a book in 1985, and 'If the stones spoke', published as a book in 1995, both of a historical nature.

“Although a writer never completely dies, today Antonio Gala has left us,” conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijoo wrote on Twitter. “My memory for a unique literary voice and an overflowing personality. We will miss him, but his words will stay on paper forever,” he added. For his part, the president of the regional government of Andalusia, Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, stressed that Gala "had an Andalusian heart and an admirable talent."

The burning chapel with the body of Antonio Gala opened this Monday at the Foundation that bears his name, until 5:00 p.m. (Spain time). Córdoba decreed a day of official mourning for the death of its most illustrious citizens.