Quick Facts
Biography
Manuel Rivas (born in A Coruña, Spain on 24 October 1957) is a Galician writer, poet and journalist. He began his career in some Spanish newspapers like El Ideal Gallego, La Voz de Galicia, El País, and was the sub-editor of Diario 16 in Galicia. Rivas has written well known poems, novels, articles and literature essays.
Rivas is considered a revolutionary in contemporary Galician literature. He was a founding member of Greenpeace Spain, and played an important role during the Prestige oil spill near the Galician coast. Some of his work has been adapted to cinema, such as A lingua das bolboretas and O Lápis do Carpinteiro.
Rivas's book Qué me quieres, amor? (1996), a series of sixteen short stories, was adapted by director José Luis Cuerda for his film La lengua de las mariposas ("Butterfly"). O lápis do carpinteiro ("The Carpenter's Pencil") has been published in nine countries and is the most widely translated work in the history of Galician literature.
Awards
- Galician Critics Prize
- Spanish National Narrative Prize
- Spanish Critic Prize
- Prize of the Belgian section of Amnesty International
- Torrente Ballester Prize
- Arcebispo Xoán de San Clemente e o da Crítica Prize
- ONCE Prize - Galicia and Solidarity
- Xarmenta 2007