Guest of the ilb 2002
Antonio Gamoneda was born in Oviedo, Spain, in
1931. Two years after the death of his father he moved, together
with his mother, to Léon at the age of three, where he still lives
now. At the age of ten, he started his education at a religious
school from which he was expelled two years later. Despite the
difficult conditions, he managed to do his A-levels and then worked as
a bank employee.
Finally, however, his love of literature prevailed, a love which
he inherited from his father, a known modernist writer in literary
circles. With the collection of poems 'Sublevación inmóvil'
Gamoneda started, in 1960, to have his works published. Although
with this, at least regarding the period, he belongs to the 'generación
poética' of the fifties, his own style expands the social realism style
which was typical of the time.
The poetry volumes 'Descripción de la mentira' and 'León de la mirada'
appeared in 1977 and 1979. 'Blues Castellano' was published in
1982 and has been translated into many languages. His biggest
success up to now was in 1987, where his volume 'Edad' appeared in
the prestigious series 'Cátedra', for which a year later he was awarded
with the highest Spanish poetry prize, the 'Premio Nacional de
Poesía'. 'Edad' is in fact a later work in which Gamoneda
once again examines his previous works and strongly re-works parts of
them. Poems from 1947 to 1986 are presented here, partly put
together anew and expanded with up until now unpublished material.
Some of the poems "I had to extract, like a sculptor with a rock
out of other poems, the inner of which had been hidden from me up until
then". 'Libro del frío' came out in 1992 and was
nominated for the 'Europa Prize' in 1993. Two years later the
author produced 'Libro de los venenos', a convincing poetic new version
of 'Materia Médica' by Discórides.
Gamoneda has also made a name for himself as a translator of other
authors. He has translated, amongst others, works by Nazim Hikmet
and Mallarmé into Castilian. Since 1980, Antonio Gamoneda is one
director of the Sierra-Pambley Foundation, founded in 1877, which works
for the education of workers and farmers. He recently published the
collection of poetry "Cecilia" (2004) and the novel "Descripción del
frio" (2002). In
2006, he was awarded the Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana of
the University of Salamanca and the Premio Miguel de Cervantes.
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