Spain says goodbye to one of the most prolific writers of the last century. Poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter and columnist, Antony Gala has diedas confirmed this Sunday by the Córdoba City Council.

The writer, author of great successes such as The Turkish Passion (1993) and the crimson manuscript (1990), was born in Brazatorta (Ciudad Real) in October 1930, but grew up in Córdoba, a city with which he always identified himself. In total, Gala has written more than 20 plays, almost a dozen poetry and another fifteen between novels, stories, and even his autobiography (now i will talk about myself2000).

Nearly 50 works in which there was always room for sensitivity and love; he always spoke openly about life and death, love and eroticism, destiny or any transcendental subject, as he revealed in his many television appearances. In his novels, he placed as protagonists the women and he portrayed his attempts to get out of the patriarchal scheme, not always with success.

Nor did he have any problems giving his political position: in El Intermedio he criticized the Rajoy government, which he described as “plutocracy”: “It is the power of money, not the power of the people,” he told Thais Villas. He was also in favor of Spain’s withdrawal from NATO, and in fact he chaired the citizen platform that advocated for that end.

Readers of his work or not, Spaniards have him in their imagination: his Canes -he had about 500- and his slow speech gave that appearance of fragility that characterized him. Her firmness was already exercised with her words; he always had a precise and transcendental answer for each question.

We cannot ignore his careful styling: his sweaters and scarves, knotted to perfection, were also part of the character. Antonio Gala has been the living history of this country. He video that heads these lines collects some of the oldest images of the writer.

Gala was a writer for everything, including newspaper columns and television scripts, although he defined himself as a poet. For him, all i wrote was poetry, just in different formats. His popularity grew due to his frequent presence on the small screen in the 90s, years in which Gala and other famous writers they managed to sneak the literature into private television as well.

His last television work was the program Trece noches (Canal Sur, 1999) together with the also deceased Jesus Quintero. Among the oldest is the historical series Paisaje con Figuras, which Gala himself presented on RTVE in the 1970s. At Atresmedia he also went through El Intermedio or El Hormiguero, among others.

five year old writer

He started writing as a child: at five years he wrote a short story and at seven his first play, as detailed in the foundation that bears his name and Gala’s place of residence in the center of the Caliphate city. In 1951, when he was only fifteen years old, he was already studying Law at the University of Seville and had enrolled free of charge in Madrid in Philosophy and Letters and in Political and Economic Sciences.

For the novels he was made to wait, but he entered through the front door. The first, the crimson manuscript gave him the Planeta Award that year. With The Turkish Passion, best-seller that Vicente Aranda took to the cinema the following year, and the book of poetry the double-headed eagle (1993) he became the best-selling writer that year in Spain. The influence of this work has endured over the years, and in 2023 Atresmedia premiered a series of the same name based on this title.

In the theater, already in 1963 he had received the Calderón de la Barca, as shown in the video. It would be the first of a collection of awards and recognitions, including the appointment of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Córdoba (1982) or the Pepe Isbert National Theater Award (2020), the last one received before his death.

His contribution as patron: the foundation, his great legacy

The immense legacy of the adoptive Cordovan writer will not only remain through his works, but also through his facet as a patron. More than 300 artists have been able to develop his creations thanks to the Antonio Gala Foundation. Since 2002, and directed by his nephew, José María Gala, his mission is and has been to scholarship to young people so that they could dedicate themselves to literary, musical creation or also of visual or plastic arts.

The Foundation was so important to him that he went so far as to say that this was his great legacy, and not his own works, according to Pedro J. Plaza, a researcher of Gala’s work and a young man who passed through the Foundation’s residence. This center is proof that he “has always believed in youth”, adds the young writer.

In addition, he points out, the poet promoted an unprecedented concept that he called “cross fertilization”and which consisted of periodic sessions in which the residents analyzed the work of their peers, to mutually enrich each other with contributions from the point of view of other artistic areas.

Every year, at the end of each edition, Gala will participate in the closing ceremony and dedicate some warm words to these new talents welcomed by her foundation. He told them not to betray the “personal and secret voice” that impels each creator, because “whoever gags her ceases to be who she is”.

2021 was the last, and since then he decided not to participate in public events anymore. What he did not abandon was writing, even if it was not to publish: “His life is reading and writing,” his nephew said in an interview.

“I know of no better immortality than that of be remembered, with affection and respectfor those who succeed us”, he also stated in a speech for young people. The immense legacy that he leaves leaves us with no other option than to profess affection and respect for this -already- legend of Spanish literature.