Daniela Martín Hidalgo
Poet, translator, and critic. I write poetry and about poetry; I am a literary translator from English and Dutch into Spanish, and I write articles and reviews for academic and literary publications. I also teach courses, seminars, and workshops on poetry, translation, and writing.
I studied Hispanic Philology (Complutense University of Madrid), completed a Master’s degree in Publishing (University of Salamanca), and earned a research Master’s degree in Literary Studies (Leiden University, The Netherlands).
Photo: Alberto Páramo
Writing
In my poetry I investigate the possibilities of the word between the here and now and the imagined, based on the particular modes of image and form in poetic language.
At the age of 17, I published the plaquette Desolación. Destierro. Since then, I have published several poetry books: La ciudad circular (Litoral Elguinaguaria, 2003), Memorial para una casa (La Palma, 2003), Pronóstico del tiempo (Trea, 2015), La piel, la pulpa, el gusano, la semilla (Pre-Textos, 2023), and Artesanía y otros poemas (Ediciones del Pampalino, 2024).
I was awarded a creation grant from the Madrid City Council at the Residencia de Estudiantes My poetry has been included in anthologies such as Acento. Antología poética para el siglo XXI (Ril Editores, 2024), Honda meditación de toda cosa. Poesía canaria del paisaje, 1990–2020 (Francisco León and Jordi Doce eds.; Fundación Ortega Muñoz, 2021), and Poesía canaria actual. Antología 1960-1992 (Cecilia Domínguez Luis ed. and sel.; La manzana poética, 2016).
Translation
After returning from a ten-year stay in the Netherlands, I began to specialize in literary translation from Dutch into Spanish and English into Spanish. Between 2019 and 2023, I was part of the second edition of the European project CELA. In 2021, I published my first translation from Dutch, El nacionalsocialismo como doctrina del rencor y otros escritos, a collection of articles by antifascist writer Menno ter Braak, with support from the Nederlands Letterenfonds.
Subsequently, I translated the novels La historia de mi sexualidad by Tobi Lakmaker andElias o el combate con los ruiseñores by Maurice Gilliams (also with support from the Nederlands Letterenfonds); and an essay co-translated with Goedele de Sterck entitled Los borgoñones a a narrated historical account about this late medieval dynasty.
I also participated in the translation project Bombing of Poems which—organized by the Chilean artistic collective Casagrande and the Dutch poetry festival Poetry International—commemorated the bombing of Rotterdam on May 14, 1940, by dropping poems by Dutch authors translated into Spanish, and vice versa, from a helicopter over the city.
From English, I have translated Sylvia Plath’s poetry book Winter Trees (Árboles de invierno) Averso, 2025; the essays on ecology Wasteland. The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters (Vertedero. La sucia realidad de lo que tiramos, a dónde va y por qué importa, Capitán Swing, 2024) by Oliver Franklin-Wallis and social movements If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution (Si ardemos. La década de las protestas masivas y la revolución que no fue by Vincent Bevins (Capitán Swing, 2025); and the historical essay Friendship in the Classical World (La amistad en el mundo clásico) by David Konstan (Arvarigani, 2019; co-translated with Jorge Cano).
Photo: Alberto Páramo
Photo: Adriel Perdomo
Other writings
I was a lecturer at Leiden University (The Netherlands). In Madrid, I now teach creative and effective writing in continuing education courses at the University of Burgos.
I write articles and reviews reflecting on poetry and poetic practices. I have also done specialized editing and proofreading for publishers such as SM, Gredos, Akal, Los libros de la Catarata, and Almenara Press, and for organizations such as Casa Árabe Madrid, AECID, and Leiden University.
Collaborations
I am open to new collaborations and activities. If you believe I could contribute to your organization or project, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Some of the organizations and publishers I have already collaborated with are:
Photo: Adriel Perdomo
“De este modo nos espeta, con un gesto inconformista de resistencia, alternando irreverencia con audacia, bombardeando la linealidad, alimentando la multiplicidad, dinamitando la sintaxis lógica y destrozando al sujeto trascendente kantiano, atravesado de lenguaje normalizado, hecho cliché y sentimientos automatizados.”
Juan Carlos Abril