José María Sánchez-Silva y García-Morales (11 November 1911 – 13 January 2002) was a Spanish writer. He received the

Hans Christian Andersen Medal The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

in 1968 for his contribution to

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. He is best known for his novel ''Marcelino Bread and Wine'' (1953) which was filmed in 1955, as '' Miracle of Marcelino''.See page 186 of ''World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia'' by Maureen Ihrie, Salvador Oropesa, 3 volumes, 1294 ages, . On lin

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Early life

Sánchez-Silva was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. His father, also José María Sánchez Silva, was a journalist close to anarchism, writing in the journal ''Earth'', who went into exile in 1939. The family had been unstructured and the son (Sánchez-Silva) at times was practically a vagrant child. He joined institutions for orphans and children at risk such as Del Pardo School of Madrid (dependent on the City Council of Madrid). In these institutions he learned typing and shorthand, which earned him a stenographer's position in Madrid.

Career

In 1934, he published his first book ''The Man in the Scarf''. 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 ...

, he remained in the Republican zone in Madrid, working with the Falange until

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

troops entered the city. In 1939, he began working as a journalist in the newspaper ''Arriba''. He became assistant principal of the paper and collaborated with the newspaper ''El Pueblo''. Sánchez-Silva won fame as a result of ''Marcelino Bread and Wine'' (''Marcelino, pan y vino'', 1953), which was made into a film by Ladislao Vajda as '' Miracle of Marcelino'', and became one of the great successes of Spanish cinema worldwide. It was further adapted into Marcelino (anime). After the success of Marcelino, he returned to the character in stories ''Marcelino Pan y Vino'' and ''Adventures in the sky Marcelino Pan y Vino''. Together with

José Luis Sáenz de Heredia José Luis Sáenz de Heredia (10 April 1911 – 4 November 1992) was a cinema of Spain, Spanish film director. He was born in Madrid. His film ''Ten Ready Rifles'' was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. Filmography ...

, he was the author of the screenplay of the movie ''

Franco, ese hombre ''Franco, ese hombre'', translated into English as ''Franco, this man'', is a 1964 documentary film by Spanish director José Luis Sáenz de Heredia. It follows the military and political career of the Spanish Head of State Francisco Franco unt ...

'', a biography in the ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...

''.

Awards

The biennial

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

conferred by the

International Board on Books for Young People International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Sánchez-Silva received the writing award in 1966. He won the Spanish prize for literature in 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez-Silva, Jose Maria 1911 births 2002 deaths Spanish children's writers Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing winners Place of death missing 20th-century Spanish journalists