Celso Emilio Ferreiro

• Illustration — Sculpture of Celso Emilio Ferreiro in Celanova. Ferreiro was born in Celanova, into a well-off Galicianist family. In 1932, at the age of twenty, he created the Mocedades Galeguistas de Celanova (Galicianist Youths of Celanova) with Xosé Velo Mosquera. In 1934 he also participated in the creation of the Federación de Mocedades Galeguistas (Federation of Galicianist Youths). Some time after this Ferreiro got into trouble because of an article published in his magazine Guieiro.

Ferreiro was mobilized in the Spanish Civil War by the Nationalist troops. He studied law, and contributed to many magazines and newspapers over the period of the Francoist State. In 1966 Ferreiro travelled to Venezuela, where he collaborated with the Galician Brotherhood. He fell out with the Galician nationalists in Venezuela, and in response published the poetry collection Viaxe ao pais dos ananos (Journey to the land of the dwarves). He founded the Patronato da Cultura Galega (Patronage of Galician Culture), and was part of President Rafael Caldera's cabinet.

After returning to Spain Ferreiro lived in Madrid, where he worked as a journalist. He wrote in Galician and in Castilian, but his most important work was his Galician-language poetry. Ferreiro died in Vigo, Galicia, Spain on 31 August 1979. He was buried in his birth city of Celanova.