Camilo José Cela (Spain 1958-2001)

Cela was born on 11 May 1916 in Galicia (northwest Spain) in a family with many members. Mostly, it belonged to the upper middle class but also had certain aristocratic roots. His father was a Spaniard, his mother of English birth but also with some Italian blood - Cela is said to count with pride both English pirates and Italian politicians among his ancestors.

After leaving school, he began medical studies but, with greater interest, attended literary lectures in the philosophical faculty. The studies were broken off, however, by the civil war. Owing to pulmonary tuberculosis, he made his way to his native district, where the nationalists were in control, and he was enrolled as a private on their side but was exempted after having been badly wounded.

After the war, he returned to Madrid to resume his studies, this time, in law, but came to devote more and more time to writing. In 1942, he published the novel that made his name - La familia de Pascual Duarte. Since then he has devoted himself entirely to literature. From 1954 to quite recently, he lived on Mallorca. In 1956 and until 1979, he published the quality magazine, Papeles de Son Armadans in which, during the Franco era, he could give space to the young opposition.

Cela has been a member of the Spanish Academy since 1957, and he is honorary doctor at a large number of foreign universities. In 1984, he received el Premio Nacional de Literatura, and in 1987 his works were rewarded with el Premio Principe de Asturias de las Letras.

Biography: "Pascual Duarte's Family", "The Hive", "Rest Home", "Journey to the Alcarria ", "Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son", "Mazurca fot two dead"...