Spanish poet, professor and diplomat. Friend of Federico García Lorca and other members of the El Rinconcillo literary gathering.
He was born in Alájar, Huelva, but when he was very young his family moved to Granada. In this city he studied Philosophy. He was part of the gathering at the Café Alameda, El Rinconcillo, along with other artists and intellectuals of the time as Soriano Lapresa, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, José and Manuel Fernández-Montesinos, Fernández Almagro, Francisco and Federico García Lorca, etc. He was a cousin of María Zambrano, with whom he had a love affair that failed.
He collaborated in newspapers such as ‘La Estafeta’ or ‘El Sol’. The latter newspaper sent him as a correspondent to Japan. He was a Spanish reader in Osaka and Kobe, where he stayed until 1934. He learned the language of this country and its literature and culture. This later influenced his literary work.
He was one of the founders in 1915 of the magazine Granada. In 1919 he went to Madrid, where he met artists and writers such as Jorge Guillén or Pedro Salinas, as well as remaining in contact with all the people from Granada who had been settling in the Spanish capital. He worked at the Center for Historical Research and collaborated in newspapers such as La Estafeta or El Sol. The latter newspaper sent him as a correspondent to Japan. He was a Spanish reader in Osaka and Kobe, where he stayed until 1934. He learned the language of this country and its literature and culture. This later influenced his literary work. In 1934 he settled in Romania as a diplomat and worked as a professor of Spanish at the University of Bucharest. He returns to Barcelona and is surprised by the start of the Civil War, but Fernando de los Ríos sends him to San Francisco as consul. In Washington, where he also stayed, he was in charge of depositing the Guernica to ensure its care and conservation. He was secretary of the embassy of the Spanish Republic.
In January 1938, he returned to Spain and, from Figueras, fled to France. On the way he lost a suitcase with documents. He went into exile in the United States, where he taught at Brooklyn College and the New School for Social Research, in New York, from 1941 until almost his death. There he was in contact with Juan Larrea, José Manuel Blecua, Lorca’s family, Guillén, Salinas… He died in Brooklyn in 1956.
He was united by a great friendship with Federico García Lorca. The latter would dedicate some of his writings to him, such as the Andaluza section of Songs.
Some of Pizarro’s published works include Versos (Meridiano, 1961), Poetry and Theater (Diputación de Granada, 2000), Record of the Returnees (Ediciones Embalaje de Museo Royo of Colombia), (Ediciones Embalaje de Museo Royo of Colombia)…
