Rafael Alberti

Rafael Alberti (1902-1999) was a leading Spanish poet and dramatist of the Generation of '27, the avant-garde circle that also included Federico García Lorca and Jorge Guillén. His early collection Marinero en tierra (1925) won Spain's National Prize for Literature, and Sobre los ángeles (1929) is widely considered his masterpiece.

A member of the Communist Party of Spain and a cultural spokesman for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile after Franco's victory, living in Argentina and later Rome before returning to Spain in 1977, when he was elected a deputy for Cádiz. He was awarded the Premio Cervantes, Spain's highest literary honor, in 1983.