Rafael Arozarena

Who was Rafael Arozarena?

Rafael Arozarena was a Spanish poet and novelist who was born in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. He studied medicine and after that he started writing books, because writing is what he likes most and what he usually does.

He spent his youth under the influence of the Spanish Civil War and the post-war. He studied Art so, apart from writing, he can also draw. He joined in a literary group called ‘Los Fetasianos’ with some of his friends.

His first stories appeared in the 40’s in a magazine called Arco. About ten years later, he started to write for a newspaper and all through his life he published six books: Alto crecen los cardos, Aprisa cantan los gallos, El omnibus pintado con cerezas, Silbato de tinta amarilla and Cerveza de grano rojo. However, his most important book is Mararía, which is famous all round the world and which has also be made into a film.

In 1988 he received the most important literary prize in the Canary Islands. Until his dead he lived in Bajamar, La Laguna.