The selection of authors proposed for this collection has largely followed the one that already existed in the room they occupy. The main selection criterion has been the writers’ connection to the Barrio de las Letras (the Literary Quarter), and failing that, their connection to the city of Madrid. Based on this selection guideline, we have tried to find the most relevant authors for each period who, in turn, had a female counterpart. Including these authors has inevitably meant excluding others. Exclusions were made mainly on comparative grounds: for example, when choosing between several authors who met similar criteria in terms of narrative genre and literary movement, the one considered most relevant was chosen, in an effort to create a dialogue between male and female authors.
It was decided to open the collection with two contemporaries, María de Zayas and Miguel de Cervantes, and to close it in the same way with Valle-Inclán and Concha Espina.
