Manuel Álvarez Ortega

Manuel Álvarez Ortega (Córdoba, March 4, 1923 – Madrid, June 14, 2014) was a Spanish poet, translator, writer, and veterinarian.

Álvarez Ortega was born on March 4, 1923, at number 4, Calle Santa Victoria in Córdoba.

He was the fifth child of Mariano Álvarez Berard and Paula Ortega Soria.

He was baptized on April 6, 1923, in the Church of El Salvador y Santo Domingo de Silos.

He began his studies in 1935 at the provincial Institute.

Álvarez Ortega completed his diploma in 1942 and then studied at the Veterinary School (Facultad de Veterinaria) in Córdoba, which at that time belonged to the University of Seville (Universidad de Sevilla).

In April 1948 Álvarez Ortega's first book, La huella de las cosas (a selection of poems written between 1941 and 1948), was self-published in Córdoba.

He was the director and founder of the journal Aglae, which circulated between 1949 and 1954.

In April 1949, the first number of the journal Aglae came out, presented as an anthology.

In March 1950, his second book was published, Clamor de todo espacio, in the collection Aglae.

He wrote many of his works in Madrid, the city where he lived starting in 1951.

Starting in 1951, he worked as a veterinarian, after taking the public exam for the position, at the Military Academy of Health (Academia de Sanidad Militar) in Madrid, a position that he left in 1972 to dedicate himself full time to literature.

In 1954, his book Hombre de otro tiempo is published, also in Aglae.

In December 1954, Álvarez Ortega was a finalist for the Adonais Prize with his book Exilio, published the following year.

In 1955, with José García Nieto, López Anglada, Leopoldo de Luis, Ramón de Garciasol, and others, he founded the collection Palabra y Tiempo with the publisher Taurus.

With the translation in 1960 of Crónica, by Saint-John Perse, for a special number of the journal Poesía Española, published as a tribute to the then-recent winner of the Nobel Prize, Álvarez Ortega begins his period as a translator, which will continue throughout his life.

Among other authors, he translated into Spanish the poetry of René Char, Bataille, Bonnefoy, Jaccottet, Desnos, Tzara, Artaud, Michaux, Aragon, Ponge, Leiris, Queneau, Senghor, Lanza de Vasto, Péret, Éluard, Laforgue, Breton, Péret, La Tour du Pin, Jarry, Lautréamont, Oscar Miłosz, and Apollinaire.

In April 1962 his books Dios de un día y Tiempo en el Sur came out in a single volume, in the collection Palabra y Tiempo from Taurus.

In December 1963, Álvarez Ortega won a secondary award under the Adonais Prize for Invención de la muerte, which was published in February of the following year.

In September 1964, he contributed to the anthology Poesía belga contemporánea, published by Aguilar.

Following this anthology came others: Poesía francesa contemporánea (1967), for which he received the National Translation Prize (Premio Nacional de Traducción); Poesía simbolista francesa (1975) and Veinte poetas franceses del siglo veinte (2001).

In May 1967, he collaborated with the Televisión Española program El oro del tiempo, directed by the poet José García Nieto.

Previously he had worked with the program El alma se serena, also on Televisión Española, and directed by the poet Juan Van-Halen.

That same year he published two books, Despedida en el tiempo and Oscura marea.

In December his one-act play, Fábula de la Dama y los alpinistas, was performed.

In 1969, his books Oficio de los días and Reino memorable came out in a single volume.

In 1972, he published Carpe diem, and his Antología Poética (1941–71), with a prologue by Marcos Ricardo Barnatán, was released by the publisher Plaza y Janés.

In 1973, Tenebrae came out as a supplement of the journal Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, and in January 1975, Génesis was published by Visor.

Also in 1973, several of his translations began to be published, with poets like Apollinaire, Segalen, Éluard, Saint-John Perse, and others.

Following the publication of several minor works (Fiel infiel; Escrito en el Sur; Templo de la mortalidad; Lilia culpa, and Sea la sombra), in 1988 Álvarez Ortega published Gesta and, in 1990, Código, both with Devenir, directed by Juan Pastor.

In 1992, he published as a book and cassette (in the author's voice) Génesis with Ediciones Portuguesas.

In 1993, Liturgia was released and, in 1997, Intratexto, both with Devenir.

In April 1998, the same publisher released a book-homage, Dedicatoria, with works by several poets and an extensive study of his work.

In 2001, his candidacy for the Nobel Prize was proposed and accepted by the Swedish Academy for the first time.

In 2002, Desde otra edad was published.

In 2003, his second candidacy was proposed for the Nobel Prize.

In 2005 the publisher Huerga y Fierro released Despedida en el tiempo: Antología poética (1941–2001), in an edition by Marcos-Ricardo Barnatán.

In 2006, Álvarez Ortega's Obra Poética (1941–2005) was published by Visor and the following year Devenir published Antología Poética (1941–2005).

Álvarez Ortega died on June 14, 2014, at 91 years old.

He was the brother of painter and poet Rafael Álvarez Ortega.