Celso Emilio Ferreiro


Celso Emilio Ferreiro Mínguez was a Galicianist activist, writer, poet, and political journalist.

Early years

Ferreiro was born in Celanova, into a well-off Galicianist family. In 1932, at the age of twenty, he created the Mocedades Galeguistas de Celanova with Xosé Velo Mosquera. In 1934 he also participated in the creation of the Federación de Mocedades Galeguistas. Some time after this Ferreiro got into trouble because of an article published in his magazine Guieiro.

Francoist Spain

Ferreiro was mobilized in the Spanish Civil War by the Nationalist troops. He studied law, and contributed to many magazines and newspapers over the period of the Francoist State.
In 1966 Ferreiro travelled to Venezuela, where he collaborated with the Galician Brotherhood. He fell out with the Galician nationalists in Venezuela, and in response published the poetry collection Viaxe ao pais dos ananos. He founded the Patronato da Cultura Galega, and was part of President Rafael Caldera's cabinet.

Later life

After returning to Spain Ferreiro lived in Madrid, where he worked as a journalist. He wrote in Galician and in Castilian, but his most important work was his Galician-language poetry. "Longa noite de pedra", a lament at the anti-Galician policies of Francoist Spain, is one of the best-known and most powerful Galician poems of all time.

Death

Ferreiro died in Vigo, Galicia, Spain in 1979. The Día das Letras Galegas was dedicated to Celso Emilio in 1989.

Books