María del Pilar Couceiro earned a PhD in Hispanic Studies from the Complutense University in Madrid with a thesis on El Paso del Trasmundo en el otoño de la Edad Media y Renacimiento directed by Álvaro Alonso de Miguel. She holds a degree-level qualification in Composition, Conducting and Musicology from the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid. She has written more than 50 articles and studies on the Middle Ages, the Golden Age, realist novels and the oeuvre of Francisco Umbral. She has won several poetry prizes.