Ángel González

Ángel González was born in Oviedo, Spain, on September 6, 1925. In 1944, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent three years in a sanatorium in northwest Spain. During this time, he began reading and writing poetry.

A member of Spain’s “Generation of the 1950s” literary movement, he published his first poetry collection, Áspero mundo (Ediciones Rialp), in 1956, followed by his second collection, Sin esperanza, con convencimiento (Literaturasa), in 1961, for which he gained wider literary recognition. In 2007, Wing Press published, in a bilingual edition, Almost All the Music: Casi Toda la Música. His poetry is known both for its political aspects and for its lyric observations on humanity.

During his lifetime, González also edited several anthologies and collections of literary criticism. From 1974 to 1993 he taught contemporary Spanish literature at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, dividing his time between Spain and the United States.

He was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the inaugural Federico García Lorca International Poetry Prize, a Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, and a Reina Sofía Award for Spanish and Latin-American Poetry. He died on January 12, 2008, in Madrid.