Writers, Poets and Philosophers
Andalucia has been home to world-famous writers, poets and philosophers during the course of history, including the poet, playwright and theatre director Federico Garcia Lorca. Listed below are a number of famous writers and poets who have roots in Andalucia.
However, not all of the literary figures were at first welcomed in the town: the local residents became somewhat alarmed at the arrival of an infamous American named Alvin Karpis, who set up home… More →
Numerous celebrated literary figures passed through Torremolinos during its glory years and some used it as a base for their short stories, novels and poems. Grahame Green, the English novelist… More →
Walter Starkie appears to be a man from another age, the age of the wandering scholar, the age when a sound knowledge of languages, music and literature could take you down the roads of a semi-… More →
George Borrow is the epitome of the English eccentric traveller, a man who undertook the quixotic task of trying to sell Protestant bibles to a very Catholic Spain amidst the chaos and confusion… More →
If you walk up the Cuesta de Gomérez to the Alhambra, rather than take one of the shuttle buses, you will more than likely come across a curious statue set back from the road. Where the Calle Real… More →
Hans Christian Andersen is perhaps a surprising figure to be associated with Andalucía. Known as a poet, playwright and novelist, he is most synonymous with the fairy tales he penned, many of… More →
Born in 1833 in Guadix, fifty-four kilometres from the provincial capital of Granada, Alarcón was a Spanish novelist who specialised in realistic depictions of Spanish life. Like so many of his… More →
Washington Irving was the son of a New York merchant, he was trained in law but gave it up for the family business. When it collapsed he turned to writing but also figured proximately in the… More →
That same sunshine that attracts so many of us to Andalucia also drew Victoria Hislop to Granada in search of a story of love, passion and tragedy as she researched Spain’s Civil War. The Return… More →
Salvador Compán is from Úbeda in Jaen, a city recognised as a World Heritage Site and home to many outstanding monuments. The author now lives in the regional capital of Seville where he works as… More →
María Zambrano was born on the 25th of April, 1904 in Vélez-Málaga (Málaga province), the daughter of Blas José Zambrano, a teacher. She only stayed in Vélez for three years as her family moved to… More →
Laurie Lee was a poet and novelist, best-known for his autobiographical trilogy Cider with Rosie (1959), As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969), and A Moment of War (1991). The trilogy… More →
Juan Valera was born on October 18th, 1824 in Cabra, Córdoba to an aristocratic family. However, his father was persecuted and jailed in the days of Fernando VII due to his liberal ideals. Valera… More →
Javier Sierra is an author, writer, researcher, and journalist whose work encompasses a wide range of topics from the historical to the factual to the supernatural. His novel, the Secret Supper,… More →
Gibson was born in Dublin in 1939 and educated at Newtown school in Waterford and Trinity College, Dublin. He lectured in Spanish at Queen's University, Belfast, and then became Reader in Modern… More →
His early childhood was spent in India and South Africa before he continued his formal education in England. Brenan initially attended Radley College and then the Military Academy at Sandhurst.… More →
Federico Garcia Lorca is not only Spain's most universal poet, but he is also a universally recognised symbol of Spain - and especially Andalucia - itself. His poems paint a vivid and… More →
Few foreigners ever have been so closely identified with Spain as is Ernest Hemingway. A Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning novelist, essayist, and correspondent, Hemingway was able to capture the… More →
Prior to his being known for his writing, he was a highly competent painter. In 1925, however, Alberti received the necessary motivation to concentrate on his writing when he gained the National… More →
In 1961 French artist, writer and film-maker Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) stayed in Marbella for four months, just two years before he died. A permanent exhibition in Marbella commemorates the… More →
I met Don Lorenzo (aka Lawrence Bohme, English writer and former resident of Montefrio, a hilltop village in Granada province) on the Internet. That does not sound remarkable, but actually it was… More →
María Zambrano was born on the 25th of April, 1904 in Vélez-Málaga (Málaga province), the daughter of Blas José Zambrano, a teacher. She only stayed in Vélez for three years as her family moved to… More →
Latin philosopher, playwright, politician and prominent writer, Lucio Anneo Seneca was born in Cordoba. He was the son of the Roman rhetorician Marco (Lucio) Anneo, better known as Seneca "El… More →
A few months ago I was sitting at a sidewalk café, in the shadow of the medieval walls of Cordoba - and just a few steps from a curious statue of two hands, which seem to be reaching towards one… More →