Álvaro Cunqueiro (1911-1981) is one of Galicia's best loved writers. Born in the cathedral city of Mondoñedo to the north of Lugo and a short flight of the imagination from the sea, he is best known for his collection of literary sketches
Folks From Here and There
and for his Arthurian novel
Merlin and Company
, published in Colin Smith's English translation in 1996. His portraits of local characters are done with great humor and tenderness and the reader is left wondering if these characters existed in real life or were imagined. Cunqueiro was an accomplished poet, journalist and dramatist, who published also in the Spanish language. This English edition was first published in 2011 and is now reprinted.