One of the most famous playwrights of our time, Luisa Mundi is a Spain born writer whose many works have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She was born and raised in Carbajales, a region in north-west of Spain, which today is one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the country. It is often called the “Wine and Food Tourist Capital” of Spain due to the number of wineries that are found there. Luisa’s early life was marked by family disruptions and poverty, which all served to focus her attention on her literary talents and which led to an early fascination with theatre.
It was this early interest in acting that would later influence her choice of writing and also on the genres she would choose. Born as Felipe Aleman in Jaen, Mundi relocated to Barcelona when she was young and became best known for her role as the sister in the musical La Favorite. Following the success of this show, she moved on to become well known in La Cage Opera and finally to adapting the role of Corso in the English play The Rose. All of these roles established her reputation in the Spanish speaking world and helped her to gain notice in Hollywood. Her choice of writing was sparked by her desire to write about the people of Spain and her feelings of connection with the country and its people.
While many modern writers have followed in Luisa Mundi’s footsteps and wrote about their own nationalities and their unique experience in Spain, none have managed to create a work which can be labelled as truly Spanish and written at such a scale and detail as The Rose. However, even though The Rose is considered to be a great introduction to the Spanish language, it is not considered to be a comprehensive grammar book. It is however a wonderful read as it tackles almost everything you could ever want to know about Spanish from the perspective of a modern day girl – no matter how young or old your knowledge of Spanish may be.