The Island

Born in Barcelona in 1925, Ana María Matute (d. 2014) began her career as a novelist in the late 1940s, quickly becoming established as one of the most significant literary voices of the Spanish post-war period. In spite of singularly harsh treatment by the Francoist censor - which described her as irreverent and immoral, banned her from engaging in journalistic activities, and forced her to alter or delay the publication of her writing for both adults and children - Matute's lyrical prose style and sensitive treatment of both conflict and childhood earned her both the Premio Nadal (for Primera memoria) and Spain's National Prize for Literature in 1959, a rare seat in the Real Academia Española in 1996, and the Spanish-speaking world's most coveted literary prize, the Premio Cervantes, in 2010.
She is, to date, one of only four female authors to have received it. Laura Lonsdale is Associate Professor in Spanish at the University of Oxford and Fellow of The Queen's College.