Almudena Grandes, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts for her “unwavering commitment” to literature

The Council of Ministers has approved the granting, posthumously, of the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts to Almudena Grandes for her “extraordinary quality as a writer” and her “unwavering commitment” to literature and memory, demonstrated through his work.

The Government Spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, announced this recognition, at the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, at the beginning of the press conference after the weekly meeting of the Cabinet of Pedro Sánchez, who attended the writer’s funeral yesterday in the civil cemetery of La Almudena, along with other members of its Executive.

“We all know and have enjoyed the literature of this great professional,” said Rodríguez, who highlighted his contribution to the dissemination of the Spanish language, the internationalization of culture and his “unwavering” commitment to memory, in reference to the many portraits that Grandes made in his books of the vanquished of the Civil War.

The spokesperson also recalled that Grandes was “a woman who opened the way for other women” during his long and successful literary career.

This award distinguishes people and entities that have stood out in the field of artistic and cultural creation or have provided notable services in the promotion, development or dissemination of art and culture or in the conservation of artistic heritage.

Almudena Grandes, who died last Saturday, has been proposed in attention to “her extraordinary quality as a writer, endorsed by numerous awards since the beginning of his career, including the National Narrative Prize, awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, in 2018, for his work ‘The patients of Doctor García’ “.

Also for his contribution to the promotion of reading and his contribution to the internationalization of Spanish literature: “The high sales and large print runs of his books show that he has managed, through quality literature, to attract many non-readers to the world of reading, who have become fervent followers of his work,” they point out from the Executive.