Angel Guinda

Àngel Guinda was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1948. Since the late 1960s he has been writing poetry, essays and articles on literature and other subjects, editing major anthologies of Spanish poetry, teaching, and translating Italian and Portuguese-language poets into Spanish. He lives in Madrid.

He is recognised as “one of the most necessary and original poets in Spanish literature in recent decades”, with an "incorruptible voice", and regarded as “one of the most important living poets on active service”.

His poetry includes the important collections Vida ávida, Claro interior and Materia del amor, amongst many others, in addition to his essays El mundo del poeta, el poeta en el mundo (The world of the poet, the poet in the world) and La experiencia de la poesía (The experience of poetry).

He won the Aragonese Literature Prize in 2010, and was short-listed for the Critics’ Prize in 2012 and the National Poetry Prize in 2013 with his books Espectral and Caja de larva, respectively.

Writing in Banipal 59, introducing a feature on his work, Trinidad Ruiz Marcellán, the poet’s publisher for 40 years with the publishing house she founded, Olifante Ediciones de Poesía, says: “His poetry is harsh and profound in content, clear and aphoristic in form. It is born from visceral feelings, a sense of responsibility, brutal experiences, a calming imagination and memories that can never be erased. It displays authenticity, knowledge, didacticism, tension and intensity. The main phases in its development have been bitter realism, critical consciousness, constant reflection, and the illumination almost of a seer.”

Banipal 59’s feature on Angel Guinda was translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush.

Contributor's Issues

Banipal 59 - The Longlist (Summer 2017)

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