Translation Rights TQE / Authors / Semprún, Jorge

Jorge Semprún was born in Madrid in 1923 into a large Spanish family. His father was a lawyer who taught philosophy of law at Madrid University, and one of the short-lived Spanish Republic's representatives in The Hague. After Franco's victory he went into exile and settled in France. Upon the outbreak of war, Jorge joined the Resistance. Arrested in 1943, he was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp in January 1944, where he was an active member of the clandestine communist organization. After his liberation in April 1945, more than 15 years were to elapse before he was able to begin writing about his deportation experiences. During that time he was a leading member of the underground communist party in Franco’s Spain, until he became disillusioned and was expelled from the party as a dissenter. He turned to literature with an immediate impact: his first book, The Long Voyage, was published in French in 1963, was quickly translated into several other languages and obtained the first edition of the prestigious Formentor Prize. It marked the beginning of an extraordinary career.

            Since then he is among the most important and widely read memoir-writers and novelists, and has also worked as scriptwriter with directors such as Alan Resnais and Costa Gavras. Among other books he is the author of The Long Voyage, Literature or Life, What a Beautiful Sunday, The Second Death of Ramón Mercader, Netchaiev is Back, Federico Sánchez Says Farewell, Goodbye, Light of Summers…, and I will Live with His Name, He will Die with Mine.  Jorge Semprún is a member of the Académie Goncourt which awards the prestigious annual prize of the same name and was the Spanish Minister of Culture between 1988 and 1991. His writing has received a very wide recognition: the Formentor Prize (1964), the Femina Prize in France (1995), the Peace Prize of the German booksellers (1994) and the Jerusalem Prize (1996). He is without a doubt one of the prominent European intellectuals of our time.