Rosa Chacel (Valladolid, 1898-Madrid, 1994) is one of the great Spanish writers belonging to the Generation of 27, and whose work has been framed in the so-called literature of the exile. The wide recognition of her literary production comes from 1976, when she was awarded the Premio de la Crítica.

Astillas includes a diverse range of articles and short essays, many of them rigorously unpublished, and the remaining texts do not appear in the corresponding volumes of her Complete Works, either because they were written after that publication or because they were rescued from more unknown publications during the period of exile.

Ana Rodríguez Fischer (Vegadeo, Asturias, 1957), writer and lecturer at the University of Barcelona, was responsible for this anthology, which has been a recognition of the figure of Chacel. She is the author of numerous books on modern and contemporary writers of Spanish literature and of several novels (Objetos extraviados, Batir de alas, Ciudadanos y Pasiones tatuadas) and literary criticism in a variety of media.