Xaviel Vilareyo y Villamil (1967 – 19 May 2015) was an Asturian writer born in

Mieres Mieres is a municipality of Asturias, northern Spain, with approximately 38,000 inhabitants. The municipality of Mieres is made up of the capital, Mieres del Camino and the villages of Baiña, Figaredo, Cenera, Loredo, La Peña, La Rebollada, ...

in the Province of

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1967. He is associated with the Asturian literary group of the 1990s.

Education

He graduated in Law from Oviedo University and became a high school teacher of music in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain. A teacher of the Asturian language, Vilareyo developed the first organized courses of Asturian outside of Asturies, in Madrid in 2001.

Poetry

Vilareyo's first book of poetry, ''Cróniques del recuerdu'', written in the

Astur-Leonese language Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a Romance language spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Asturi ...

, secured his first public award in 1995. His activity within the Asturian language and culture increased after 1995 with other poetry and narrative awards, such as the Valentin Andrés Literature Prize and the Vila de Sarria Poetry Prize in 1997, the Xeira Award in 1998, the Elvira Castañón Poetry Award in 1999, and the Asturian Academy Award of Theatre 2009, among others. He has published literary work in many Asturian and Spanish magazines such as ''Pretexto'','' Lletres Asturianes'', ''Reloj de arena'', ''Sietestrellu'', ''Lliteratura'', ''El signo del gorrión'', ''Isla Desnuda'', ''Calicanto'', ''Estío'', ''Texturas'', "N'ast", "Fusión" and many others and also became essayist in several other publications such as ''El canciu'l Cuélebre'', ''Lletres asturianes'', ''Entrambasauguas'' or ''Asturies memoria encesa'', always concerning the Asturian national language, culture and history. His other books of poetry include ''Más que probable'' (1998), ''Os novos poemas'' (1999), and ''El camín d'inquietú'' (2002). He has as well authored two books of tales, ''La causa más probable'' (2006) and "Doña Terina" (2010), essays like "Los ámbitos de la nación asturiana" (2008), "Historia del cine asturianu" (2009), "Les Asturies y el nacionalismu bascu" (2012) and has written a modern Method of Asturian Language. Becoming a recognized playwright with the publication of "La fuxida" (2011) that received the Asturian Academy Award of 2009. He also appears in several anthologies of asturian literature such as ''Muestra de nueva poesía'' (1998), ''Cinco años de lliteratura asturiana'' (1999), ''Na boca de todos'' (2006), ''Unde lletras falan'' (2006) and "Camín de Bimenes" (2007). He was organizer of the Xunta d'Escritores Asturianos (Asturian Writers Council) in Oviedo in 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012. He was also founder and administrator of the Festival de Cine Asturianu (Asturian Film Festival) since the year 2005, promoting the Asturian national cinema. He died on 19 May 2015 at age 48.

References

Spanish male writers Writers from Asturias 1967 births 2015 deaths University of Oviedo alumni {{Spain-writer-stub