The professor of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature of the University of Oviedo has a long career in the field of culture, especially in terms of poetry, films and music
The writer and professor of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature of the University of Oviedo Javier García Rodríguez has become the director of the Leonard Cohen Chair, an unpaid position. The Cátedra Leonard Cohen Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras 2011 was born as the result to the sponsoring of the Canadian artist, who donated the monetary prize of the award to recognize and thank the reception that the Spanish audiences have always given to his work.
The Rector of the University of Oviedo, Vicente Gotor, has names García Rodríguez, author with a vast experience in the field of culture, to lead this project, in which the support of the Prince of Asturias Foundation has been a key factor. The objective of this Chair is to contribute to the knowledge and dissemination of the works by this Canadian musician and poet, and "to promote poetic and musical creativity in our society", both in terms of dissemination and of formation.
Javier García Rodríguez (Valladolid, 1965) is a Bachellor in Hispanic Philology and PhD in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature. He began his teaching career in 1989 at the University of Iowa and in 1991 he moved to the University of Valladolid, where he acquired tenure in 2002. It was in the latter where his contributions to the establishment of Creative Writing as a university field through the subjects of Techniques of literary creation and Literary Composition. He has been a Professor Invité at the University of Montreal (Canada), and, since 2011, he has been a Tenured Professor of the Area of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the University of Oviedo. He has authored several academic and dissemination works on literature and cinema, the relations of contemporary poetry and the classical tradition, the poetry of the Spanish Golden Age and the contributions made by contemporary poets.
As a poet, he has written the books Los mapas falsos (1996), Estaciones (KRK, 2007) and Qué ves en la noche (Ediciones del 4 de agosto, 2010), and as a narrator, Mutatis mutandis (Eclipsados, 2009) y el libro de relatos Barra americana (DVD Ediciones, 2011). A selection of his journalistic contributions was published, in 2009, as Líneas de alta tensión: literatura crónica que viene a cuento (Septem). He is also the author of the illustrated book with poems for children titled La tienda loca (Pintar-Pintar, 2014), with art by Edgar Plans. He translated the works of Portuguese poet Al Bert El miedo (Pre-Textos, 2007), the novel Glyph by Percival Everett (Blackie Books, 2014), and the work on theory and criticism by Kenneth Burke or Walter Watson, among others. He is a member of the Board of Editors of El Cuaderno.
He was a promoter and coordinator of the Festival de la Palabra versátil.es in Valladolid throughout its six editions, in which around 100 poets and singers participated, including Nacho Vegas or Luis Eduardo Aute, among others. He also directed the course Letra y música… Poesía, sociedad e ideología en la canción española contemporánea, in which González Lucini or Javier Krahe participated. He coordinated and promoted the initiative Canciones AtraVersadas, a rock album by rock band La Linga that includes poetry with music by authors such as Raquel Lanseros, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Tobal or Belén Artuñedo. He has been the director of the Aula de Lectura: Poesía of the University of Oviedo for two years.