Literature in Extremadura

Extremadura's been prominent as a literary setting for centuries, as in the case of La Albuera, a village made famous by the 19th century battle in the Napoleonic Wars Peninsular Campaign where British troops fought (882 died) and which inspired Byron's famous poem, Canto the First:

"...O Albuera, glorious field of grief!
As o'ver thy plain the Pilgrim pricked his steed,
Who could forsee thee, in a space so brief,
A scene where mingling foes should boast and bleed..."

In the 20th century, prominent writers, such as Miguel Delibes, have also set novels in Extremadura. Los Santos Inocentes is a story of tough rural life in Extremadura and was later turned into a film by Mario Camus. As for writers from Extremadura, José de Espronceda and Carolina Coronado are two important 19th Century Romantic poets, while the early 20th Century saw the emergence of Luis Chamizo, famous in Extremadura for his poetry collection "El Miajón de los Castúos" a portrait of rural life in the area of his home village, Guareña. This book was written in castúo, which some locals claim as a regional language. In fact, it more resembles the transcription of a dialect with a sprinkling of vocabulary that's specific to Extremadura, something approaching Yorkshire dialect poetry in the U.K.

As for contemporary figures, perhaps the best-known present-day novelist from Extremadura is Luis Landero, while prominent poets include Álvaro Valverde, Pureza Canelo, Ada Salas, María José Flores and Luciano Feria.