Germán Espinosa Villareal (April 30, 1938 – October 17, 2007) was a Colombian novelist, poet and author born and based in

Cartagena, Colombia Cartagena ( , also ), known since the colonial era as Cartagena de Indias (), is a city and one of the major ports on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region, bordering the Caribbean sea. Cartagena's past role as a link ...

. He wrote over forty works over the course of his career. He often used his native Cartagena for the backdrop or inspiration for his writings. His

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

writings featured such diverse topics as

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

and the Spanish Inquisition. Espinosa was often called "Gabo sin Nobel," or "Garcia Marquez without the prize" in English. The quote referred to fellow Colombian writer, Garcia Marquez, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. Espinosa was best known for his 1982

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

"La Tejedora de Coronas" (The Weaver of Crowns). which focuses on the main character, Genoveva Alcocer, and is set in 17th century Cartagena. Espinosa once called the city of Cartagena a "city of legends." "Perhaps the legends that arose in my city were the product of the inactivity of the people, since, for so long, almost the entire 19th century . . . there was nothing much to do other than invent, speak, read and remember." His books are a real milestone for Colombian and American Literature. Some of his novels are "La Balada del Pajarillo" (the Ballad of the little bird), "Cuando Besan las Sombras" (When shadows kiss), "El Signo del Pez" (The Sign of the Fish) and "Aitana", dedicated to his deceased wife, Josefina. He also wrote several books of short stories. Germán Espinosa died of cancer on October 17, 2007, in Cartagena at the age of 69.

References

He smokes and his lungs got bad and he died {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinosa, German 1938 births 2007 deaths People from Cartagena, Colombia Colombian male novelists 20th-century Colombian poets Colombian male poets 20th-century Colombian novelists 20th-century male writers