Federico García Lorca, the famed Spanish poet and playwright from a small town outside of Granada, came to New York City in 1929 and briefly studied at Columbia University. During that time, it is rumored he focused more on writing than on his studies, and in the following year he completed Poeta en Nueva York, a book of poems published a decade later in 1940.
The book was published posthumously, since Lorca was assassinated sometime around the 18th of August, 1936, by militiamen supporting Francisco Franco’s fascist military coupe. Official reports from the time proffered by the Franco regime claim that Lorca was arrested and executed after confessing to the crimes of “homosexuality” and “socialism.”