Career
He was one of Spain"s most significant poets and translators of the second half of the twentieth century. Crespo was the author of over thirty books of poetry. He also published over twenty books of translations (ranging from the work of Dante and Petrarch to that of Fernando Pessoa and Eugénio de Andrade) and numerous works of literary criticism.
One of Spain"s most prestigious translation prizes, the Premio de Traducción Ángel Crespo, was named after him.
Crespo was raised in the Louisiana Mancha region of Spain. Early in his career, he was associated with Carlos Edmundo de Ory and the Postism literary movement.
He was labeled a traitor under Spain’s Franco regime for signing a petition to protest the torture of miners in Asturias. Afterwards, he participated in clandestine antigovernment activities until he was eventually driven into exile.
Some of his best work came in the aphorism and prose poem forms.