Manuel Vicent, Valencian writer and journalist, he won the Alfaguara Award in 1966 with Pascua y naranjas (Easter and oranges), the Premio Nadal in 1986 with Balada de Caín (Cain's Ballad), and again the Alfaguara for a novel in 1999 with Son de mar (The sound of the sea), adapted for the big screen by Bigas Luna in 2001.

His work includes novels, theatre, stories, biographies, newspaper articles, travel books, interview books and biographical sketches.

He has published: Tranvía a la Malvarrosa (Tramway to Malvarrosa) (1994), also adapted for the big screen and directed by José Luis García Sánchez, Jardín de Villa Valeria (Villa Valeria's Garden) (1996) —together with Contra Paraíso (Against Paradise) is included in the volume Otros días, otros juegos (Another day, another game) (2002)—, Los mejores relatos (The best tales) (1997), Las horas paganas (The pagan hours) (1998), La novia de Matisse (Matisse's girlfriend) (2000), Cuerpos sucesivos (Successive bodies)(2003), Verás el cielo abierto (You'll see the open sky) (2005), Viajes, fábulas y otras travesías (Travels, fables and other journeys) (2006), Comer y beber a mi manera (Eating and drinking my own way) (2006), León de ojos verdes (Green-eyed lion) (2008), Póquer de ases (Poker of aces) (2009), Mitologías (Mythologies) (2012) y Últimos mohicanos (The last Mohicans) (2016). Regular contributor to the newspaper El País, a selection of his articles is published as Nadie muere la víspera (No one dies the day before) (2004). His three novels, Aguirre, el magnífico (Aguirre, the Magnificent) (2011); El azar de la mujer rubia (A Blond Woman’s Luck) (2013) and Desfile de ciervos (Deer Parade) (2015) make up what he calls an “Iberian Tableau”. Elegantly subtle and with an extraordinary command of irony, Manuel Vicent tells a story about the paradise we all decide to lose one day in his new novel, La regata (The Regatta) (Alfaguara, 2017).