The year 1963 witnessed the centenary of the publication of Rosalía de Castro’s Cantares Gallegos, the work that signals the Rexurdimento (‘rebirth’) of Galician literature after centuries of darkness. That year the Real Academia Gallega established a day, 17 May, to commemorate the life and works of a writer in Galician (always one whose death had taken place at least ten years earlier). The general purpose was to revive the Galician people’s pride in their language and literature and to encourage their cultivation among the coming generations. The Universidade de Santiago de Compostela decided to join the annual celebration in 1973, ten years after the Día das Letras Galegas was established. Since then it has never failed to contribute to the event with the publication of a collective monograph. Promoted and written in Galician by members of the Departamento de Filoloxía Galega, it focuses on the year’s honouree. Collection in progress.
