Granada (EFE)
Belonging to the so-called Generation of the 50s, Rafael Guillén (Granada, 1933) began his literary activity in 1953 as a member of “Versos libres”, a group of young writers who broke the silence into which Granada’s post-war poetry had sunk. the murder of Federico Garcia Lorca.
With the poetry collection “Veleta del Sur”, which he founded and directed four years later with José G. Ladrón de Guevara, he began to revitalize the literary scene in Granada during the time it remained active, until 1966.
Also as editor, in 1982 he directed, together with Francisco Izquierdo, the series of fascicles on the Granada neighborhood of Albaicín “Los papeles del Carro de San Pedro”, but it was much earlier, in 1956, when he published his first book of poems, “Antes de la hope”, with which he began an extensive literary career that earned him the National Literature Award in 1994 for his work “Los estados transparentes”.
This recognition was followed by many more such as the Andalusian Critics Award, the Federico García Lorca International Poetry Award or, previously, the Circle of Ibero-American Writers and Poets of New York, among others.
The mayor of Granada, Francisco Cuenca, has lamented his death, because it marks the departure of “one of the great poets that Granada has given to the world of letters.” “We will try to fill the void that his person leaves us with the strength of a work that will be unrepeatable”, he has indicated.