Arturo Perez-Reverte

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Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez is an important writer and journalist from Cartagena.

He was a correspondent for RTVE, a reporter in various armed conflicts, a member of the Royal Spanish Academy and the author of various novels, sagas and trilogies.

He was born on November 25, 1951, in Cartagena and was raised in a family of merchant seamen. During his childhood, he spent long days fishing with his relatives. His grandfather had a large library that caught his attention and he started reading the classics.

Studies

After finishing high school, he enrolled at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he studied political science in parallel with journalism.
  When the “Diario Pueblo” disappeared, he began working for Spanish television, being a war correspondent for nine years.

He stood out as a reporter on the wars in Cyprus, the Malvinas, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Republic of Chad, Mozambique, Angola, various phases of the war in Lebanon, the 1975 campaign in the Sahara, the crisis in Libya and the coup d'état in Tunisia, among many other historical events. The war in Eritrea (1977) especially marked him, as he went missing for several months and survived thanks to his contacts in warfare.

Titles that do not lose validity

After being a press, radio and television reporter, covering conflicts and international wars, he decided to dedicate himself fully to literature.

He has written more than 25 narrative works that have a link to the tradition of the historical novel and the detective novel. In fact, they have been recognized nationally and internationally and are still frequently read: El húsar, El maestro de esgrima, El club Dumas, Territorio comanche, La tabla de Flandes, La carta esférica, La Reina del Sur, Cabo Trafalgar, El pintor de batallas, La piel del tambor, El francotirador paciente, Los perros duros no bailan, Sidi, Línea de fuego and El italiano, among many other notable works.

Many of his publications have been translated into more than 40 languages and have received various literary awards. In 1996, he published El Capitán Alatriste, which to this day is considered one of the most successful literary series.

Professional achievements

On June 12, 2003, Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez entered the Royal Spanish Academy and read a speech entitled "The speech of a brave man from the 17th century", with which he won the attention and admiration of all those present.

In 2006, the film Alatriste was released, based on his series of El Capitán Alatriste novels, under the direction of Agustín Díaz Yanes. The following year, La carta esfera, directed by Imanol Uribe, premiered. Then the television adaptation of La Reina del Sur was made.

Other novels of his that have been successfully adapted to the cinema are El maestro de esgrima, La tabla de Flandes and El club Dumas, the latter shot by Roman Polanski and marketed under the title The Ninth Gate.

He has obtained numerous awards. On February 18, 2004, the Polytechnic University of Cartagena named him an honorary doctorate. Also, he has received the French Crime Literature Grand Prix, the Asturias Prize for Journalism, the Ondas Prize, the Goya Prize for best adapted screenplay for El maestro de esgrima and the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature, among many other well-deserved awards.