Rafael Alberti

Rafael Alberti
Andalusian poet Rafael Alberti in Casa de Campo (Madrid), 1978
Born	(1902-12-16)16 December 1902 El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Kingdom of Spain
Died	28 October 1999(1999-10-28) (aged 96) El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Spain
Spouse	María Teresa León ​ ​ (m. 1932; died 1988)​

Rafael Alberti Merello (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27.^[1] He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called Silver Age of Spanish Literature,^[2] and he won numerous prizes and awards. He died aged 96. After the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile because of his Marxist beliefs. On his return to Spain after the death of Franco, he was named Hijo Predilecto de Andalucía in 1983 and Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad de Cádiz in 1985.^[3]

He published his memoirs under the title of La Arboleda perdida (‘The Lost Grove’) in 1959 and this remains the best source of information on his early life.