author
Rosalía de Castro
1837–1885
A central voice in the Galician cultural revival, she wrote poetry and fiction that gave everyday sorrow, longing, exile, and place an unforgettable music. Her work helped bring the Galician language into modern literature while also securing her place in 19th-century Spanish letters.
3 Audiobooks
Cantares gallegos
by Rosalía de Castro
Follas Novas: Versos en Gallego
by Rosalía de Castro
En las orillas del Sar
by Rosalía de Castro
About the author
Born in Santiago de Compostela in 1837, Rosalía de Castro became one of the defining literary figures of 19th-century Spain. She wrote in both Galician and Castilian Spanish, and she is especially remembered for helping restore literary prestige to the Galician language at a time when it had long been pushed to the margins.
Her best-known books include Cantares gallegos and Follas novas, works closely tied to Galicia’s landscape, speech, and social realities. Her writing often returns to themes of homesickness, poverty, injustice, womanhood, and emotional solitude, yet it remains clear and intimate rather than grand.
She married the historian Manuel Murguía in 1858, and her life and work became closely connected with the broader Galician cultural renaissance. Rosalía de Castro died in 1885, but her voice has endured far beyond her century, and she is still widely read as both a major poet and a symbol of Galician identity.