Guest of the ilb 2002
Luis García Montero was born in Granada in 1958 and
belongs amongst the most successful contemporary Spanish poets.
He completed his studies in Spanish literature at Granada
University in 1981 and five years later he presented his doctoral
thesis on the Spanish modernist Rafael Alberti. Today he has the
Chair for contemporary Spanish literature at the university in his home
town and lives in Madrid.
Montero’s writing career began in 1980 with the poetry collection 'Y
ahora ya eres dueño del Puente de Brooklyn', for which he received the
'Federico García Lorca Prize' of his university. His book which
came out a year later, 'El Jardín extranjero', was also awarded the
'Premio Adonais de Poesía'. The volume 'Habitaciones seperadas'
which came out in 1994 was awarded both the 'Premio Nacional de Poesía'
and the 'Premio Fundación Loewe'.
In 1986, Luis Antonio de Villena took the poet into his anthology
'Postnovísimos' which played on the pioneering collection 'Nueve
novísimos poetas españoles', which had appeared 15 years earlier.
In Spain, the literary culture is, especially in the twentieth
century, influenced through clearly marked changes of generations.
Montero is today perceived as one of the most modern writers who has
left the literature of the seventies behind him. With
'Completamente Viernes' the writer presented in 1998 a collection of
love poems which he dedicated to his wife, the well-known novel author
Almudena Grandes. The ethic of happiness which he here picks out
as a central theme, isn’t understood by him as simply a private
matter but as a 'way of writing and being in the world'.
Luis García Montero is not only known for his literary works, but
also for his many academic publications. Alongside a small
history of Spanish poetry in individual portraits, 'El sexto día' he
produced, in 2001, with 'Gigante y Extraño. Las Rimas de Gustavo Adolfo
Becquér', a detailed commented new edition of the work of this Spanish
late romantic.
In 2002, Montero's poems of twenty years were published in the
annotated collection "Antología poética". For his volume of poetry "La
intimidad de la serpiente" (2003: t: The intimacy of the snake) the
author was awarded the Gold Medal of the city of Granada.
© international literature festival berlin
Luis García Montero online: http://bb.domaindlx.com/bonney76/montero | 
