Two Spanish Prizes

This is kind of old news, but last week Juan Goytisolo was awarded Spain’s National Prize for Literature, an extremely prestigious award honoring a writer’s career.

Goytisolo is one of my all-time favorite writers, especially Makbara, Marks of Identity, Count Julian, and Juan the Landless. I actually had the opportunity to have lunch with him once during the Guadalajara Book Fair. He was incredibly charming and intelligent (as expected) and told a great story about Fidel Castro and Goytisolo’s vinegar allergy . . .

Dalkey Archive has reprinted all of the titles mentioned above, with the exception of Juan the Landless, which I think will be coming out in the future.

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Over the holiday weekend, it was announced that Juan Marse was awarded the Cervantes Prize, which is considered to be the Nobel Prize for literature in Spanish.

Marse is best known for his novels about people enduring tough times in Catalonia after the 1936-1939 civil war, which ended with fascist dictator Francisco Franco’s victory and was followed by years of repression against his foes.

Doesn’t look like any of Marse’s books are available here in the States, although two—Lizard Tails and Shanghai Nights—were translated by Nick Caistor and are available in the UK.