The best books written in Galician to celebrate WORLD BOOK DAY:

We cannot think of a better way to celebrate World book day than to recommend some of the best books written in our mother tongue.

  • Cantares Gallegos (Galician Songs) by Rosalía de Castro

As we have already mentioned in our post dedicated to Rosalía de Castro, this book has been translated to many languages. In fact, it has been the most translated book written by a Galician writer. A poetry book containing 37 poems filled with Rosalia’s longing for Galicia.

  • Memorias dun neno labrego (Memoirs of a peasant boy) by Xosé Neira Vilas

This book starts with the following phrase: “My name is Balbino. I am a peasant boy. As many people would say, a nobody. And, in addition, poor”. And it is through the story of this peasant boy – which reflects the sufferings that once Xosé Neira Vilas had to face – the reader learns the cruelty of the postwar years in Galicia as well as how many Galician families had to emigrate in search of better life.  

  • Cousas (Things) by Manuel Rodríguez Castelao

The writer Manuel Rodríguez Castelao, named by the critics the Galician William Blake, has been one of the best representatives of Galician Satire. In this book he speaks about the Galician immigration towards America, poverty and the sociocultural situation in Galicia through 45 short stories.

  • A Esmorga (On a Bender) by Eduardo Blanco Amor

This legendary peace of Galician writing created by Eduardo Blanco Amor retells few fateful days in the life of a raucous group of Galician men. It’s content deeply describes how life was for some people during Franco’s government. There’s no doubt that this novel is one of the works that best describes the abuses of power of that time.

  • ¿Qué me queres, amor? (What do you want, love?) by Manuel Rivas.

This contemporary Galician writer and journalist gives us 15 short stories that spin around love. One of them is the famous short story “the tongue of the butterflies” that was later transformed into a movie by José Luis Cuerda in 1999.