MADRID (AP) — The award-winning Spanish author Ana Maria Matute, best known for her books set during the Spanish Civil War, died Wednesday. She was 88.
Matute died in the northeastern city of Barcelona where she was born and lived, the Spanish Royal Academy for Language said.
The cause of death was not disclosed.
Matute won many Spanish literary awards, including the 2010 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s top literary honor. She also won Spain’s National Literature Award for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in 1984 and Spain’s National Literature Award in 2007.
Among her most popular novels are “Los Abel” (The Abels), “Los Soldados Lloran de Noche” (Soldiers Cry By Night), and “La Trampa” (The Trap).
Matute was ranked as one of the country’s best post-Civil War writers. Her work often centers on that conflict, which took place from 1936-39.
Admired for her lyrical style, Matute’s novels commonly consider the lives of children and adolescents and focus on issues of betrayal and isolation.
Matute has also been praised for her children’s books and young adult novels, including “Los Ninos Tontos” (The Stupid Children), and “El Verdadero Final de La Bella Durmiente” (The True Story of Sleeping Beauty).
She is survived by a son. No information was immediately available about funeral arrangements.
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