Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa (born 11 October 1936 in

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

) is a Spanish novelist, inventor and industrialist. His novels have sold over 25 million copies worldwide. He is the owner of A.V.F.S.L, a desalinization company that uses a method of desalinization by pressure, invented by himself.

Biography

Vázquez-Figueroa and his family fled from the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Since his youth, he visited the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and described the culture of the desert region. He also worked as a teacher of

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

techniques on the school boat "Cruz del Sur" of the oceanologist

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the ...

He attended the studios of the in a part of 1962 and worked in the Destino specials. He was a war correspondent in

La Vanguardia ' (; , ) is a Spanish daily newspaper founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan. It has its headquarters in Barcelona and is Catalonia's leading newspaper. Despite being mostly distributed in Catalonia, ...

, for TVE (

Televisión Española (acronym TVE, branded tve, "Spanish Television") is Spain's national state-owned public television broadcaster and the oldest regular television service in the country. It was also the first regular television service in Equatorial Guinea. T ...

) and for the program ' with de la Cuadra Salcedo and Silva. As a correspondent, he documented revolutionary wars in countries such as

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. He later wrote his first novel, ' (''Sand and Wind''), and in 1975, he published as many as 14 to 15

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

s such as ''Ébano''. His other works include ''

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

'', ', and ' as well as the sagas ', ', ' and '. His novel ''Tuareg'' was cinematized in 1984 by director Enzo G. Castellari.Tuareg - Il guerriero del deserto
/ref> His novel ''Iguana'' was cinematized in 1988 by Monte Hellman. His novel ''Garoé'' ( the name of a sacred tree in the

) won the 2010 Historical Novel Prize Alfonso X El Sabio, valued at €100,000. He has also published an autobiography entitled ''Anaconda''. He is also a screenwriter and film director and has made such films as ''

Oro rojo Oro or ORO, meaning gold in Spanish and Italian, may refer to: Music and dance * Oro (dance), a Balkan circle dance * Oro (eagle dance), an eagle dance from Montenegro and Herzegovina * "Oro" (Mango song), 1984 * "Oro" (Jelena Tomašević so ...

''.

Literature

* ''

'' (1980) * ''Tras las huellas de Alec'' (1971) * Serie Cienfuegos ** ''Cienfuegos'' (1987) ** ''Caribes'' (''Caribs'') ** ''Saud el Leopardo'' (2009) ** ''Azabache'' ** ''Montenegro'' ** ''Brazofuerte'' ** ''Xaraguá'' ** ''Tierra de bisontes'' (''Land of the bisons'') * ''Olvidar Machu-Picchu'' (1983) * ''Manaos'' * ''Viracocha'' * ''Anaconda'' * ''Nuevos dioses'' * ''El agua prometida'' * ''La ordalía del veneno'' * ''Marea negra'' * ''

Fuerteventura Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, geographically part of Macaronesia, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the coast of North Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO i ...

'' * Serie Océano (Ocean Series): **'' Isla de Lobos'' ( ''Océano'') **'' Yaiza'' **''Maradentro'' * Serie Piratas (Pirate Series): ** ''Piratas'' (1996) ** ''Negreros'' ** ''Leon Bocanegra'' * ''Tiempo de conquistadores'' (2000) * ''Un mundo mejor'' (2002) * ''El señor de las tinieblas'' * ''El anillo verde'' * ''Delfines'' (''Dolphins'') * ''La ruta de Orellana'' * ''La Iguana'' * ''Ícaro'' * ''Bora Bora'' * ''Ébano'' (1974) * ''¡Panamá, Panamá!'' * ''Tierra virgen. La destrucción del Amazonas'' * ''El inca'' (''The Inca'') * ''Los ojos del tuareg'' (2000) * ''Vendaval'' * ''Ciudadano Max'' * ''África llora'' * ''Marfil'' * ''Sicario'' * ''Palmira'' * ''¿Quién mató al embajador?'' * ''Como un perro rabioso'' ( ''El perro'') * ''Matar a Gadafi'' (1997) * ''Vivir del viento'' * ''El rey leproso'' (2005) * ''Bajo siete mares'' * ''Por mil millones de dólares'' (2007) * ''Coltan'' (2008)

Filmography

*''El perro'', directed by

Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi Lasa (22 March 1927 – 28 September 2017) was a Spanish film director and producer. Isasi-Isasmendi began working in the production firm Emisora Films as an assistant manager, film editor, scriptwriter, lead producer, ...

(1977, based on the novel ''El perro'') *''

'', directed by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa (1978) *'' Ashanti'', directed by

Richard Fleischer Richard Owen Fleischer (; December 8, 1916 – March 25, 2006) was an American film director. His career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave. He was the ...

(1979, based on the novel ''Ébano'') *'' Manaos'', directed by Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa (1979, based on the novel ''Manaos'') *''Last Harem'', directed by Sergio Garrone (1981, based on the novel ''El último harén'') *'' Tuareg – The Desert Warrior'', directed by Enzo G. Castellari (1984, based on the novel ''

'') *''Crystal Heart'', directed by Gil Bettman (1986) *''

Iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

'', directed by Monte Hellman (1988, based on the novel ''Iguana'') *''

Rottweiler The Rottweiler (, , ) is a breed of domestic dog, regarded as medium-to-large or large. The dogs were known in German as , meaning Rottweil butchers' dogs, because their main use was to herd livestock and pull carts laden with butchered mea ...

'', directed by

Brian Yuzna Brian Yuzna is an American film producer, director, and writer. He is best known for his work in the science fiction and horror film genres. Yuzna began his career as a producer for several films by director Stuart Gordon, such as ''Re-Animator ...

(2004, based on the novel ''El perro'')

References

External links

Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa's Official English Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vazquez-Figueroa, Alberto 1936 births Living people People from Santa Cruz de Tenerife Writers from the Canary Islands Spanish inventors 20th-century Spanish writers 20th-century Spanish male writers 21st-century Spanish writers Spanish film directors Spanish screenwriters