The University of Lleida (UdL) is set to honour Federico García Lorca on the 90th anniversary of his assassination, which occurred in the early hours of 18 August 1936. The commemorative events will begin next week with the publication of a book, two exhibitions, and a musical and literary recital.
On Wednesday, 18 November, the twelfth volume of the LGBTI & Company collection by UdL Editions will be presented: ¡Amor visible! Propuestas didácticas sexodiversas en torno a Federico García Lorca, authored by Jorge Luis Peralta Gaitán, a professor at the University of the Balearic Islands. He will be joined by Rafael M. Mérida Jiménez, a professor of Spanish Literature at UdL and director of the collection. This volume offers a series of educational proposals that incorporate affective and sexual diversity in the study of the Granada-born poet and playwright.
On the same day, Jesús Martínez Oliva, an artist and professor at the University of Murcia, will engage with students from the Spanish Philology degree at UdL regarding his exhibition at the Rectorate: Los sonetos del amor oscuro de García Lorca: imágenes y voces para un poemario censurado. This exhibition, which will be open until 27 November, features a collage of images and poems inspired by Lorca's work, which was not published until the 1980s.
On the afternoon of Thursday, 19 November, the Mab Consort, featuring Pep Planas (performer), Maria Altadill (voice), and Carmen Becerra (guitar), will present a musical and literary recital titled Debajo de la hoja de la verbena in the Salón Víctor Siurana. This performance delves into the imagination of Federico García Lorca through the Canciones Españolas Antiguas, which he compiled, harmonised, and recorded in 1931 with the singer La Argentina, accompanying himself on piano.
Additionally, a bibliographic exhibition will be held at the Faculty of Arts Library, organised into five thematic areas: Lorca: a life between creation and tragedy; The poetic voice of Lorca; Lorca the playwright: passion, desire, and repression; Lorca and his cultural universe; and Reading Lorca today: interpretations and new perspectives. Notable items on display include the first edition of Primer romancero gitano (1924-1927) from 1928 and the edition of El romancero gitano from 1937.
All these events aim to promote tolerance and historical memory. Mérida stated, "Poetry is a weapon loaded with the past, present, and future," and the tribute also serves as a modest homage to Jaume Pont, a poet and professor at UdL who recently passed away.
