(San Fernando, Cádiz, 1950)

Ana Rossetti is one of the leading authors of contemporary Spain. Born in 1950, she moved from the southern town of Cádiz to Madrid in 1969, a time of intellectual and political effervescence that challenged the repressive regime of the long term Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco.  Ana Rossetti became politically and culturally involved as a student activist and joined the independent theatrical groups at the University of Madrid. In the mid 70’s, Rossetti produced three plays: El saltamontes, (The Grasshopper), Sueño en tres actos, (Dream in Three Acts), and La casa de los espirales (The House of Spirals). 

However, the 80’s launched Rossetti as a well recognized author, primarily a poet. In 1980, after receiving the Gules award, Rossetti published her first book of poems, Los devaneos de Erato (Erato’s Flirtations), followed in 1982 by Dióscuros. Both books reappeared in a compilation of the poetry written by Rossetti from 1979 to 1984, called Indicios vehementes (Vehement Traces) (1987). Her next book of poems, Devocionario (The Prayer Book), published in 1986, received the prestigious Rey Juan Carlos I award, establishing Rossetti as one of the most outstanding and influential poetic voices of post-Franco Spain.

Besides poetry, Rossetti cultivated other genres such as the short story (“La sortija y el sortilegio”), the essay (Prendas íntimas), and the novel (Plumas de España). Plumas de España (Feathers of Spain), in particular, came to encapsulate the effervescence of those years of cultural madness that assaulted downtown Madrid during the 80’s. It was called “la movida,” the “swinging Madrid.” Rossetti, as filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar did, contributed to this movement with her provocative and uninhibited writing.

Rossetti’s work has received increasing critical attention. Sharon Keefe Ugalde points to Rossetti’s revision and subversion of  patriarchal literary tradition, through the author’s use of humor, parody and irony that inverts, in a “festive” fashion, the subject/object convention of traditional love poetry, or the morality of Catholic discourse. The subversion of hierarchical binary oppositions in Rossetti’s work is also explored by Mirella Servodivio. John C. Wilcox surveys Rossetti’s poetry from the themes-muses of Eros, Tragedy, Religion and History. Maria Grazia Profeti sees in Plumas de España the baroque tension between “to be” and “to pretend” as a playful structure of the novel that ultimately recounts the changes occurring in contemporary Spain. More recently, Jill Robins has edited an important compilation of essays on Rossetti’s works written by renowned specialists: Phervesions: Critical Studies of Ana Rossetti (Buchnell UP: 2004).

Ana Rossetti has continued exploring a variety of genres such as opera, television scripts, rock songs, short stories and journalism. Rossetti has also published books for children, such as a series of stories occurring in a trunk filled with robes and adventures.
 

Poetry

• La ordenación: retrospectiva (1980-2004) (2004). Poesía completa.
• Ciudad Irrenunciable (1998). Antología.
• “’Fuera yo Calvin Klein,’ Poema-graffitti.” Over the rainbow. Julio/Agosto 1997: 34-35.
• La nota del Blues. Madrid: Llama de amor viva, 1996.
• Punto umbrío. Madrid: Hiperión, 1995.
• “Dedicado a sus plantas,” Verte Desnudo. Ed. Lourdes Ortiz. Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 1992.
  127-36.
• Devocionario. Madrid: Visor, 1986.
• Indicios vehementes (Poesía 1979-1984). Madrid, Hiperión, 1985.
• Yesterday. Madrid: Torremozas, 1988.
• Dióscuros. Málaga: Jarazmín, 1982.
• Los devaneos de Erato. Valencia: Prometeo, 1980.

Narrative

• El botón de oro (2003). Novela policíaca
• El aprendizaje personal (2001).
• Recuento. Cuentos Completos (2001).
• El antagonista (1999).
• Una mano de santos (1997), segunda edición). Relatos.
• Mentiras de papel. Madrid: Ed. Temas de Hoy, 1994.
• Alevosías. Barcelona: Tusquets, 1991.
• Hasta mañana, Elena. Zaragoza: Cuadernos de Aretusa, 1990.
• “La sortija y el sortilegio.” Relatos eróticos. Ed. Carmen Estévez. Madrid: Castalia, 1990, 109-23.
• Prendas íntimas. El tejido de la seducción. Madrid: Ed. Temas de Hoy,1989.
• Plumas de España. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1988.

Children’s and Youth Literature

• Álex, Luisito y el osito y un montón de huevos fritos (2001)
• Viela, Enriqueto y su secreto (2000).
• Las aventuras de viela calamares (1999).
• El club de las chicas Robinson (1999).
• Un baúl lleno de momias (1997).
• Un baúl lleno de piratas (1997).
• Un baúl lleno de dinosaurios (1997).
• Un baúl lleno de lluvia (1997).

Essay

• Pruebas de escritura (1998)

Opera

• El secreto enamorado. Ópera en un acto y un epílogo. Premiered in Madrid, 1991. Published, 1933

Theatre

• La casa de los espirales. Premiered in Cuenca in 1977.
• Sueño en tres actos. Premiered in Madrid in 1975.
• El saltamontes. Premiered in Madrid in 1974.

Written by Tina Escaja