Manuel Rivas (born in A Coruña, Galicia in 1957) is a Galician writer, poet and journalist. He began his career in some Spanish newspapers like El Ideal Gallego, La Voz de Galicia, El Pais, and was the sub-editor of Diario 16 in Galicia. Rivas has written well known poems, novels, articles and literature essays.
Rivas is considered a revolutionary in contemporary Galician literature. He was a founding member of Greenpeace Spain, and played an important role during the Prestige oil spill near the Galician coast.Some of his work has been adapted to cinema, such as A lingua das bolboretas and O Lápis do Carpinteiro.
Rivas's book Que me queres, amor? (1996), a series of 16 short stories, was adapted by director Jose Luis Cuerda for his film, La lengua de las mariposas (Butterfly). O Lápis do Carpinteiro, or The Carpenter's Pencil in English, has been published in nine countries and is the most widely translated work in the history of Galician literature.