Ginés Pérez de Hita

Born in Mula, in the region of Murcia, around 1544, Ginés Pérez de Hita was a Spanish poet and novelist of the Golden Age. Details of his life are uncertain, but reference works agree that he lived in the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and that he may have taken part in the campaigns against the Moriscos in Granada.

He is best known for Historia de los bandos de los Zegríes y Abencerrages, usually called Guerras civiles de Granada (Civil Wars of Granada). Published in two parts between 1595 and 1619, the book blends chronicle, fiction, and traditional ballads in a way that made it highly influential. Britannica describes it as the first Spanish historical novel, and it is also valued as an important storehouse of Moorish border romance.

Pérez de Hita also wrote a rhymed history of Lorca, showing his lasting interest in local history and storytelling. What makes his writing stand out is the lively, accessible way he tells the past: even when he worked with legendary material, he gave it movement, color, and human feeling that helped his books endure.