César Antonio Molina: Spanish Minister for Culture
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By h.b. - Sep 17, 2007 - 9:35 PM
The new Culture Minister in the Zapatero administration was appointed in July 2007

Born in La Coruña, Galicia, in 1952, César Antonio Molina holds a degree in Law and Information Sciences from the University of Santiago de Compostela, and was awarded a Doctorate cum laude for his three-volume investigative thesis on the Spanish literary press.
He also holds a degree in Italian language and literature from Perugia University in Italy.

A university professor at both Complutense University (theory and literary criticism) and the Carlos III University (humanities and journalism), Molina was also coordinator for the humanities courses at El Escorial Summer University for many years.

He began his career in journalism at the newspaper ‘La Voz de Galicia,’ later moving to Madrid for what would be a lengthy period with the Grupo 16 publications: the news magazine Cambio 16 and the now-defunct daily Diario 16, where he became Associate Director and was responsible for the culture and events sections, as well as for their literary and cultural supplements.
He was also a regular contributor to the magazine ‘Cuadernos para el Diálogo’ and to the literary supplements of many other newspapers.

The literary critic left Grupo 16 in 1996 to become Managing Director of the ‘Circulo de Bellas Artes’ in Madrid, a non profit-making cultural institution founded in 1880, and which is now one of the most important private cultural centres in Europe.

Eight years later, in 2004, Molina was appointed Director of the worldwide non-profit organisation, the Cervantes Institute, a public institution created by the Spanish government in 1991 to promote Spanish language teaching and knowledge of the cultures of the Spanish-speaking countries throughout the world
The Instituto Cervantes is the largest worldwide Spanish teaching organisation, with today, more than 60 branches in four continents: 24 of those were opened during Molina’s three years at the helm.
He’s also worked hard to promote the other languages of Spain, and brought in courses in the network of Cervantes centres in Catalan, Galician and Basque, as well as courses in the cultures of the autonomous communities where the languages are spoken.

This man of letters, who took possession of his new position as Minister for Culture on 9th July 2007, is an eminent poet, essayist and translator with more than 30 publications to his name.

He sees himself more than anything, however, as a poet: ‘poetry has made me a better person,’ he says, ‘for the sensitivity it forces you to cultivate, how it makes you more open. It has also made me a better reader.’

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