Eduardo Mendoza wins 2016 Cervantes award

After an existentially complicated period, Eduardo Mendoza has reached the summit of Spanish literature with the Cervantes prize which, according to the 2008 winner Juan Marse, “he has deserved for some time.” Marsé said he was pleased Mendoza has finally been recognized with the highest award of the Hispanic letters. In his opinion, the author of “The Truth about Savolta case” (1975) is a superb creator with a lengthy career.

Born in Barcelona in 1943, Mendoza worked in New York as a translator, later studying law and then moving on to writing. His themes cover genres which reflect the changes in Spain from the time leading up to Franco's death and then through the transition to the post-transition period. Often witty, his novels at times are scathing commentaries on the political and cultural life of Barcelona of the time. Science fiction, humour, crime novels, are part and parcel of the means Mendoza uses to transmit the fictional biography of the realities of society. The Cervantes jury have awarded him the prize because of his “having opened in 1975, a new stage in the Spanish narrative, leading the reader to the enjoyment of the story, with a literary language full of subtlety and irony.” A number of Mendoza's novels have been translated into English.