BENITO PÉREZ GALDÓS (May 10, 1843 - January 4, 1920) was a Spanish realist novelist and leading literary figure in 19th century Spain. A prolific writer, he published 31 novels, 46 Episodios Nacionales (National Episodes), 23 plays, and the equivalent of 20 volumes of shorter fiction, journalism and other writings. He is widely considered to be the Spanish equivalent to Dickens, Balzac and Tolstoy. His 1952 play Realidad is regarded as an important piece in the history of realism in the Spanish theatre. He died in Madrid, Spain in 1920, aged 76.
GAMEL WOOLSEY (May 28, 1897 - January 18, 1968) was an American poet, novelist and translator. Born Elizabeth Gammell Woolsey in Aiken, South Carolina, she moved to New York City in 1921, where her first poem appeared in the New York Evening Post in 1922. She left for England in 1928 and moved to Spain in 1930. A collection of 36 poems, Middle Earth, was published in 1931, and in 1939 she published Death’s Other Kingdom, an account of her experiences during the Spanish Civil War.