Federico García Lorca

Spanish poet, dramatist and prose writer (1898–1936)

Fame77.8
Momentum2.7
Spain rank#33

Source-basedFalling

Fame77.8
Momentum2.7
Spain rank#33
Writers rank#119
Wikipedia123.3K

Lived 1898–1936, aged 38Spain

Spain WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
109 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Spain
#33
Writers
Era
1898–1936
Aged 38
Known for
The Bride
2015

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

A Spanish poet and playwright shot by Nationalist forces in 1936 and buried in an unmarked grave that's never been found. The killing came weeks into the Spanish Civil War; whether it was for his politics, his sexuality, or something more personal remains unresolved.

Biography

About

Federico García Lorca was born in Andalusia on 5 June 1898. He rose to fame in 1928 with Romancero gitano (Gypsy Ballads), a collection weaving traditional Andalusian motifs with avant-garde styles that made him a central figure in the Generation of '27—poets who brought symbolism, futurism, and surrealism into Spanish literature. A year in New York City from 1929 to 1930 yielded Poeta en Nueva York, published posthumously in 1942. Back in Spain, he wrote his major plays: Blood Wedding in 1932, Yerma in 1934, and The House of Bernarda Alba in 1936. He was homosexual, had a close emotional tie…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca

saidundated

The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known.

— Buddhist global relief

Federico García Lorca

saidundated

I suppose he had the good luck to be executed, no? I had an hour's chat with him in Buenos Aires. He struck me as a kind of play actor, no? Living up to a certain role.

— Richard Burgin, Conversation with Jorge Luis Borges, pages 92–93.

Federico García Lorca

saidundated

Well, [Lorca had] a gift for gab. For example, he makes striking metaphors, but I think he makes striking metaphors for him, because I think that his world was mostly verbal.

— Richard Burgin, Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges, Holt, Rhinehart, & Winston, 1968. Pages 93–94.

Federico García Lorca

saidundated