Spain Culture News
Writer Miguel Delibes has died
By h.b. - Mar 12, 2010 - 9:56 AM
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He had been ill with cancer for some time
Miguel Delibes, the famous Spanish writer died at 7am Friday morning at the age of 89. The Premio Cervantes winner had been unconscious since yesterday and died at home in Valladolid surrounded by family. He was one of the grand maestros of the Spanish novel, and witness to the harshness of life in deepest Spain.
King Juan Carlos phoned the house yesterday concerned about the health of the much-loved writer.
A man for whom the defence of nature and the art of hunting were his main passions, he was also winner of the Prince of Asturias prize. He once said that a novel needed at least, a man, a landscape and a passion, and was a fierce defender of the siesta which he never missed, spending the afternoon afterwards doing the domestic chores. He was a man who preferred one to one conversations rather than the usual Spanish group tertulias.
His last novel, ‘El Hereje’, was published in 1998 after he was operated on for colon cancer. Last year saw the publication of the second and third volumes of his complete works, which covered 25 years of writing from 1953 to 1978.
The chapel of rest opens at noon today in the Valladolid City Hall.