Spanish writer Almudena Grandes dead at 61

Novelist Almudena Grandes, who made her name with an erotic novel but later won plaudits for writing on Spain’s recent history, died Saturday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced.

“We have lost one of the leading writers of our time,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Committed and brave, who chronicled our recent history from a progressive point of view. Your memory, your work, will always be with us, Almudena Grandes,” he added.

Born in Madrid in 1960, Grandes was a writer and columnist who made her name with the erotic novel “Las edades de Lulu” (The Ages of Lulu) which caused a scandal but was also very successful, winning a her prize for erotic fiction.

Moving on from the erotic genre, she wrote “Te llamaré viernes” (1991), a love story between marginalised people in a hostile Madrid, and three years later “Malena es un nombre de tango” (Malena is the Name of a Tango)(1994), a highly acclaimed novel in which she tackled one of her recurring themes: an imperfect girl rebelling against social norms to find her place in the world.

In 2010, she embarked on an ambitious six-volume project called “Episodios de una guerra interminable” (Episodes of an endless war), which deals with the post-civil war years in Spain.

She was also a regular columnist for El Pais newspaper, and in a column published in mid-October, she wrote about being diagnosed with the cancer which would go on to kill her.

“I have had to write some very complicated articles in my life. None like this one,” she wrote.

“It all started a little over a year ago: a routine check-up, a malignant tumour, a good prognosis and off to fight.”

Her death sparked an outpouring of tributes on Twitter.

“It is with deep regret that we bid farewell to Almudena Grandes, a master narrator of Spanish literature, who has left us too soon,” tweeted Spain’s Instituto Cervantes.

“Almudena Grandes masterfully portrayed our recent history and gave a voice to those who never had one. We were fortunate to have her with us. To her readers, she will always be with us.”