From typicallyspanish.com
Catalan writer, Juan Goytisolo, wins Spanish National Prize for Literature
By h.b.
Nov 24, 2008 - 5:48 PM
Catalan writer, Juan Goytisolo, has been named winner of this year’s National Prize for Literature, worth 40,000 €. The prize is awarded by the Spanish Ministry for Culture.
Among his latest works is the book ‘El exilado de aquí y de allá’. The 75 year old is a great traveller and currently lives in Morocco. He is considered an expert in narrative and has often written of his travels.
Born into a rich Barcelona family he grew up in the middle of the Civil War and suffered the bombings in the Catalan capital with his two brothers, Luis, also a novelist and José Agustín, a poet who died in 1999.
He went into exile in Paris when 25 where he worked as an editorial assessor, and then as a literature professor in several United States universities.
A lover of Arab culture and a fierce defender of human rights in the third world, his career now spans more than half a century, since his first work ‘Juegos de Manos’ in 1954.