Odón Betanzos Palacios

Odón Betanzos Palacios (September 16, 1925 – September 24, 2007) was a Spanish poet, novelist, literary critic and professor, based in New York from 1956 until his death in 2007. Odón Betanzos was also a tenured member of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, of which was a Director and Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy, the Guatemalan, Filipino, Chilean, Colombian and Nicaraguan Language and the Hispanic Society of America. Moreover, he was president of the Hispanic Cultural Foundation in the United States and was in possession of the Commandery of the Order of Isabel the Catholic and the Civil Merit in the degree of Number granted by the King of Spain. He also received the Silver Medal of Andalusia in 1989, He was also presidente del Círculo de Escritores y Poetas Iberoamericanos (C.W.P.L.) (In English: President's Circle Latin American Writers and Poets (C.E.P.I.)) He settled there in 1956 where he received his doctorate, and later became a professor of Spanish language and literature of the same institution.

He posted his first poetry book in 1969, which had the title Santidad y guerrería (Holiness and Guerrieri). This was followed by other books that shared the same genre of literature, among which stand Hombre de luz (Man of Light) (1972), La mano universal (The universal hand) (1985) and De ese Dios de las totalidades (This God of wholeness) (1991), among others. In 1981, Betanzos posted his doctoral thesis Experiencias vitales en la obra poética de Miguel Hernández (Life experiences in the poetry of Miguel Hernandez). Between 1980 and 1990, he published that which would be his only novel: Diosdado de lo Alto (novela sobre la Guerra Civil Española, en dos partes, 1980y 1990) (Diosdado on High (novel about the Spanish Civil War, in two parts, 1980 and 1990).

Awards He received many awards throughout his life, among those: The Commendation of Isabel the Catholic Freedom Prize of the City of New York (1986) Silver Medal of Andalusia Vasconcelos Award (Mexico-1990) Award the Knights Order and of Civil Merit in the degree of Number granted by the King of Spain. Order of Christopher Columbus from the Dominican Republic (1991). He was declared favorite son of his hometown of Rociana in 1979, where the House of Culture bearing his name, in addition to an existing intellectual foundation based in the locality.

Legacy His works has been translated, at least in English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Dutch, Arabic, Hebrew and Macedonian.

Works He has published sixty-six books of poetry. Some of them are:

Lyric Santidad y guerrería (Holiness and Guerrieri), (1969) Hombre de luz (Man of Light) (1972) La mano universal (Universal Hand) (1985) Poemas el hombre y las desolaciones (Poetry man and desolation) (1988) De ese Dios de las totalidades (In this God of wholes) (1991) Antología poética (Poetic Anthology) (1995) Sonetos de la muerte (Sonnets of Death) (2000)

Narrative Diosdado de lo Alto (novela sobre la Guerra Civil Española, en dos partes, 1980 y 1990) (Diosdado on High (novel about the Spanish Civil War, in two parts, 1980 and 1990).

Criticism Experiencias vitales en la obra poética de Miguel Hernández (Life experiences in the poetry of Miguel Hernandez) (1981).