Gala Week in Cordoba 

Casa Árabe is contributing to this celebration, organized by the Antonio Gala Foundation and the Cajasol Foundation, to be held in the city from September 29 through October 5. See the full programme below. 

From September 29 to October 5, “Gala Week” will be taking place, an event to commemorate the memory of the famous Cordoba-born playwright. The events, which include conferences, meetings, an awards ceremony, a concert and an exhibition opening exhibition, as well as other activities, will be held at the headquarters of the Antonio Gala Foundation and the Cajasol Foundation, at the Casa Árabe headquarters and at the Palacio Erisana Theater in Lucena. 

The event has been organized by the Antonio Gala Foundation and the Cajasol Foundation, with the cooperation of the Cordoba City Council, the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia, the Cordoba Provincial Government, IMDEC (Cordoba’s Municipal Institute for Economic Development and Employment), the Cajasur Foundation, the Sabadell Foundation, the Loewe Foundation, Casa Árabe, the Cuenca 4C Center for Contemporary Creators, Planeta, Deza, the Alhaurín El Grande City Council and the Lucena City Council. 

Program for the Week 

Antonio Gala (Brazatortas, Ciudad Real, 1930 - Cordoba, 2023) Playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist. A precocious writer, at the age of fifteen, he enrolled in the University of Seville to study Law, and also in Madrid to study Philosophy, Literature, Political Science and Economics. During his university years, he had his first poems published in the magazines of the day and founded two of his own: Aljibe and Arquero de Poesía. 

After graduating, he taught Philosophy and Art History at various schools in Madrid. In 1962, he left for Italy, where he stayed for nearly one full year. He has authored a vast body of work that includes poetry, novels, television scripts (for the series Paisaje con figuras and Si las piedras hablaran, both published in book form), newspaper articles (in Pueblo, Sábado Gráfico, Actualidad española, El País and El Mundo, in which he had a column called “La Tronera”), and even an opera libretto on Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón, 1989) . 

Most notable among his works as a playwright are the tale Solsticio de Verano (Summer Solstice, 1963) and the comedy Los Verdes Campos del Edén (The Green Fields of Eden), as well as the novels Anillos para una dama (Rings for a Lady, 1973), Petra Regalada (1980), El manuscrito carmesí (The Crimson Manuscript, 1990), La pasión turca (Turkish Passion, 1994), Más allá del jardín (Beyond the Garden, 1995), La regla de tres (Rule of Three, 1996), Las afueras de Dios (On the Outskirts of God, 1999), El imposible Olvido (2001) and Los invitados al jardín (The Garden Guests, 2002), El dueño de la herida (The Wound’s Owner, 2003) El pedestal de las estatuas (The Pedestal of the Statues, 2007), Granada de los Nazaríes (Nasrid Granada) and Andaluz (Andalusian), both written in 1994. He also produced the complication Córdoba de Gala (Gala’s Cordoba, 1993), which resulted from his interest in the culture of Andalusia, which he has always felt he forms part of. His poetic works include books such as Enemigo Íntimo (Close Enemy, 1959), Poemas cordobeses (Cordovan Poems, 1994), El águila bicéfala: Textos de amor (The Two-Headed Eagle: Love texts, 1994), Poemas de amor (Love Poems, 1997) and El poema de Tobías desangelado (The Poem of Dull Tobías, 2005).

In addition, he won the Adonis Prize (1959, runner-up), the Planeta Award (1990) and the Calderón de la Barca Prize (1963), as well as the following awards: City of Barcelona Prize, 1965; Foro Teatral Prize, 1971; National Literature Award, Audience Award and Critics’ Award, 1972; Quijote de Oro Award, 1972-73; Antena de Oro Award and Mayte Award, 1973; National Screenplay Prize, 1973, and the Audiovisual Media Prize, 1976.