Angelina Gatell

Angelina Gatell Comas (June 8, 1926 – January 7, 2017) was a poet, translator, dubbing actress, and a woman who worked in the defense of several political, social, and cultural causes.

Biography

According to her own words, she was born into a poor and combative family. Her father was a tanner who lost his business at the start of the Second Spanish Republic. The family had to leave their home in Barcelona and move to Santa Coloma de Gramenet, where Angelina studied at the Pi i Margall School and the Manent School. She grew up through the war and post-war period, witnessing, as a child, the flight of refugees heading toward the French border. In Valencia, where she moved with her family in 1941, she collaborated with the International Red Aid at the age of 17. She continued her secondary education but had to abandon it when her father became paralyzed after a stroke.

In 1958 the family moved to Madrid, where she joined the literary and cultural circles: she attended Gerardo Diego’s gatherings at the Café Gijón, frequently visited Vicente Aleixandre at his house in Velintonia, and took part in José Hierro’s literary circle at the Ateneo de Madrid.

She signed a letter with other intellectuals to Minister Manuel Fraga protesting the repression of Asturian miners in 1963. Refusing to retract, she was blacklisted by TVE.

In 1964, TVE accepted her script for a dramatized biography of Marie Curie, but broadcast it under another author's name. After protesting, she recovered her authorship but was never rehired.

She later worked at dubbing studios SAGO and Oro Films as an actress, director, and dialogue adapter. She famously renamed the dog in the series Heidi from its original name, "Joseph", to "Niebla" ("Fog"), inspired by a dog mentioned by Pablo Neruda. She also worked on the TV series Marco and Once Upon a Time... Man.

Politically engaged, Gatell was a lifelong member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and collaborated with the Communist Party of Spain on the anthology Con Vietnam condemning the Vietnam War. Completed in 1968 but censored, it was rediscovered by professor Julio Neira and published by Visor in 2016. She also co-authored with Carmen Conde Poesía femenina española 1950-1960 (1971), and decades later Mujer que soy (Bartleby, 2006).

After more than thirty years without publishing poetry, she returned through Manuel Rico Rego and Bartleby Editores. Though silent publicly, she continued writing intensely. In a 1969 interview with ABC newspaper, she stated:

"It is not objectivity that I seek, but passion. That is, for me, the spring that sets in motion the world of poetry. I do not understand cerebral, purely intellectual poetry. When someone says I am rhetorical, I feel comforted: rhetoric, well understood, is the third spring; the second is ideas. Handled together, they make the poem."

Literary works Published poetry Poema del soldado, Valencia Poetry Prize, 1955 (2nd ed., Bartleby, 2020). Esa oscura palabra, La Isla de los Ratones Series, Santander, 1963. Las claudicaciones, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid, 1969 (2nd ed., Torremozas, 2010). Los espacios vacíos y Desde el olvido, Bartleby, Madrid, 2001. Noticia del tiempo, Bartleby, Madrid, 2004. Cenizas en los labios, Bartleby, Madrid, 2011. La oscura voz del cisne, Bartleby, Madrid, 2015. La Veu Perduda, Visor, Madrid, 2018. Sobre mis propios pasos (Poesía Completa, Vol. I), Bartleby, Madrid, 2023.

Anthologies Antología de la poesía amorosa contemporánea, with Carmen Conde (Bruguera, Barcelona, 1969). Poesía femenina española, with Carmen Conde (Bruguera, Barcelona, 1971). Mis primeras lecturas poéticas (Antología poética para niños), Libros Río Nuevo, Barcelona, 1980. Mujer que soy. La voz femenina en la poesía social y testimonial de los años cincuenta, Bartleby, Madrid, 2006. En soledad, con ella, Bartleby, Madrid, 2015.

Biographies Mis primeros héroes (17 biografías cortas para niños), Libros Río Nuevo, Barcelona, 1969. Neruda, EPESA, Madrid, 1971. Memorias y desmemorias. Autobiografía, Fundación AISGE / T&B Editores (2nd ed., 2014).

Children's books El hombre del acordeón, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1988. La aventura peligrosa de una vocal presuntuosa, Aliorna, Barcelona, 1988 (Spanish and Catalan editions). La aventura peligrosa de una vocal presuntuosa, Grupo Anaya, Madrid, 1994, “El duende verde” series.

Compiler Con Vietnam (1968). Visor, Madrid, 2016.

Unpublished poetry De mar a mar. Décimas de la emigrante.

Unpublished children's books Una ciudad en el subsuelo. La extraña aventura de Quico Vera. Trébol. Una niña singular que no para de rimar. La niña que se bebió un río.

Translation and dubbing Translated hundreds of books, mainly for children and young readers, for publishers such as Anaya, Espasa-Calpe, La Galera, and Santillana. Adapted and directed dubbing for numerous films and TV series, including Dynasty, The Colbys, and The Loves of Napoleon. Directed Spanish dubbing for animated series such as Once Upon a Time... Man, Marco, and Heidi. Notable work for Televisión Española includes the dramatized biography of Marie Curie.