Álvaro Pombo García de los Ríos (born 23 June 1939) is a Spanish poet, novelist and activist.

Life and career

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, he studied at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

and received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at

Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...

, where he lived between 1966 and 1977. His first book of poetry, ''Protocolos'', was published in 1973, and four years later he won the ''El Bardo'' prize for his 1977 ''Variaciones''. Returning to Spain that year, he published a collection of short stories, ''Relatos sobre la falta de sustancia'', many of which contained homosexual characters and themes. Pombo was elected to seat ''j'' of the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanopho ...

on 19 December 2002, he took up his seat on 20 June 2004.

Prizes and awards

* In October 2006, Pombo was awarded the Premio Planeta literary prize for his novel ''La fortuna de Matilda Turpin''. * In 2012 he was awarded the Premio Nadal for his novel ''El temblor del héroe''. * In November 2024, Pombo was awarded the

Miguel de Cervantes Prize The Miguel de Cervantes Prize () is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-languag ...

for his “extraordinary creative personality, his unique lyrics and his original narration”.

Works

;Novels * ''El héroe de las mansardas de Mansard'' (1983) * ''El hijo adoptivo'' (1986) * ''Los delitos insignificantes'' (1986) * ''El parecido'' (1988) * ''El metro de platino iridiado'' (1990) * ''Aparición del eterno femenino contada por S. M. el Rey'' (1993) * ''Telepena de Cecilia Cecilia Villalobo'' (1995) * ''Vida de san Francisco de Asís'' (1996) * ''Donde las mujeres'' (1996) * ''La cuadratura del círculo'' (1999) * ''El cielo raso'' (2001) * ''Una ventana al norte'' (2004) * ''Contra natura'' (2005) * ''La fortuna de Matilda Turpin'' (2006) * ''Virginia o el interior del mundo'' (2009) * ''La previa muerte del lugarteniente Aloof'' (2009) * ''El temblor del héroe'' (2012) * ''Quédate con nosotros, Señor, porque atardece'' (2013) * ''La transformación de Johanna Sansíleri'' (2014) * ''Un gran mundo'' (2015) * ''La casa del reloj'' (2016) * ''Retrato del vizconde en invierno'' (2018) * ''El destino de un gato común'' (2020) * ''Santander, 1936'' (2023) ;Short stories * ''Relatos sobre la falta de sustancia'' (1977) * ''Cuentos reciclados'' (1997) ;Poetry * ''Protocolos'' (1973) * ''Variaciones'' (1977) * ''Hacia una constitución poética del año en curso'' (1980) * ''Protocolos para la rehabilitación del firmamento'' (1992) * ''Protocolos, 1973-2003'' (2004) * ''Los enunciados protocolarios'' (2009) ;Essays * ''Alrededores'' (2002)

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pombo, Alvaro 1939 births Living people People from Santander, Spain 20th-century Spanish novelists 21st-century Spanish novelists Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Writers from Cantabria Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish gay writers Spanish gay politicians Gay poets Gay novelists Spanish LGBTQ poets Spanish LGBTQ novelists Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Spanish male poets Spanish male novelists 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century Spanish male writers 20th-century Spanish LGBTQ people Union, Progress and Democracy politicians 21st-century Spanish poets 21st-century Spanish male writers 21st-century Spanish LGBTQ people