Words (can) do it: A tribute to Federico García Lorca

Federico García Lorca was born in 1898 in Fuente Vaqueros, Andalusia. He is considered one of Spain’s greatest poets and an artistic figure who left a profound mark on both poetry and theatre, while also engaging with music and drawing.
His poetic voice emerged from his deep connection with Spanish folk song and the Roma culture of Andalusia, fused with the creative imagination of Surrealism. From Romancero Gitano and Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, to Poet in New York, and the posthumously published Sonnets of Dark Love and Diván del Tamarit, Lorca wrote poetry that continues to transcend geographical and linguistic boundaries to this day. With the rise of the Republicans in Spain, he became a founding member of the theatre group La Barraca, which staged classical plays for workers and in rural areas. He distinguished himself as a playwright with works such as Blood Wedding and The House of Bernarda Alba, the latter performed after his death. In 1936, at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he was executed by Franco’s nationalists in a murder now widely attributed to his homosexuality and his left-wing political stance. His body was never found. His work lives on.

Christos Siorikis (b. 1989) is a poet; he works as a teacher of Spanish and a translator. He has published the poetry collections The First Time (2018; shortlisted for the Best Debut Award of the literary journal “Anagnostis”) and Which Country Am I (2025). His poems have been included in Greek and international anthologies. He has also translated, among other works, Η σαγήνη του λόγου (The Allure of Language — conversations between Julio Cortázar and Omar Prego*, 2020) and, in collaboration with M. Yiosi, the play La tumba de Antígona (The Tomb of Antigone) by the Spanish philosopher María Zambrano.