The Cervantes Institute and the County Council of Jaen extend their cultural collaboration around Miguel Hernandez

The Cervantes Institute and the County Council of Jaen are extending their cultural collaboration to disseminate the work and legacy of the poet Miguel Hernández with new initiatives such as the joint creation of a collection of books in which the author of Perito en lunas will "dialogue" with other great poets in Spanish.

The director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, and the president of County Council of Jaen, Francisco Reyes Martínez, have signed this Tuesday an addendum to extend the agreement (General Protocol of Action) that both parties signed on 28 September 2017 to collaborate in the promotion of the Spanish language and culture abroad, especially in activities related to the celebration of the Hernandiano Year.

Four years after the 2017 Hernandiano Year, which commemorated the 75th anniversary of the poet's death (1910-1942), both parties have agreed to strengthen cooperation that will materialise in at least three new specific actions.

The first will be the joint creation of the book collection 'Dialogues with Miguel Hernández', in which it is proposed that the author "dialogue" with other great poets who write in Spanish, such as Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral (Chile), Octavio Paz (Mexico), César Vallejo (Peru) or José Rizal (Philippines).

A series of installations on the proposed dialogues is also envisaged, explaining the relationships between the works of Miguel Hernández and each selected poet. The installations would travel around the Cervantes Institute's headquarters in different countries, and would have a fixed location at the headquarters of the Miguel Hernández Literary Legacy Foundation and the Cervantes Institute in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid).

It was in this Alcalá headquarters where the exhibition 'Miguel Hernández, in full light', which had previously toured (since 2018) the Cervantes Institute centres in Manchester, New York, Chicago, Dublin, Manila, Toulouse and Paris, could be visited between November 2020 and last April.

Finally, and associated with these installations, it will be possible to organise - both in Spain and in the Cervantes centres abroad - conferences related to the 'Dialogues with Miguel Hernández' that will be successively edited.

Submitted by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanism advisor.