The great LGBT creators of the 20th century as you have never been told before.

Did you know that Tórtola Valencia, one of the most famous dancers of the first third of the 20th century, had to adopt her girlfriend so she could inherit, and now they are buried as mother and daughter in a cemetery in Barcelona? And that Luis Cernuda, one of the greats of the Generation of '27, wrote Poemas para un cuerpo inspired by a Mexican bodybuilder he fell in love with? Did you also not know that Francis Bacon, one of the most important British painters of the 20th century, died in Madrid because he came to Spain to meet a boyfriend, or that Carmen Conde, the first woman to enter the Royal Spanish Academy, shared much of her life with another woman?

This is just a small sample of the names you will find in the pages of this enlightening essay which, with a lively and direct style, aims to give their due place to artists who had to hide because of their sexual dissent or risk suffering the consequences of living it freely. Biographies like those of Gil de Biedma, Miguel de Molina, or Mari Trini, among others, will help us reconstruct part of the dissident cultural memory of the 20th century, as well as demonstrate that the rebels of desire, those who had to face established social norms, have always been there.

Author biography

Carlos Barea (Granada, 1987) holds a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Rey Juan Carlos University, a master’s in Creative Writing from the Hotel Kafka school, and a master’s in LGBTIQ+ Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid. He collaborates with various media, including the TVE program Cine de Barrio, the magazine Shangay, and the cultural supplement El Asombrario, as well as working as an editor and professional reader for different publishing houses.

Regarding his work as a writer, in 2020 he published his first novel, Bendita tú eres (Egales), and in 2023 he coordinated the collective works Flores para Lola. Una mirada queer y feminista sobre la Faraona (Dos Bigotes & Egales), Ocaña. El eterno brillo del Sol de Cantillana (Dos Bigotes), and Pepe Espaliú. Visibilidad, experiencias y construcciones culturales en torno al VIH (Flores Raras). In 2024 he coordinated Eloy de la Iglesia. El placer oculto del cine español (Dos Bigotes) and worked on the script for the documentary La última noche de Sonia Martínez (RTVE).