Nobel Prize Winning Author Celebrated at University Exhibition

An exhibition of the work of Nobel Prize winning Spanish author Camilo José Cela will be on display at the University of Birmingham’s Arts Building from 27th – 31st October 2008. 

The exhibit called ‘The UK in the Life and Works of Camilo José Cela’ contains a selection of documents relating to the British legacy in Cela’s works including manuscripts, first editions, critical studies, as well as paintings by Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti, Cela’s correspondence with British intellectuals such as Robert Graves and Alistair Reid, photographs, medals of honour and rare books from his private library. 

A colloquium to coincide with the exhibition will be held at the Barber Institute of Fine Art on Thursday 30th October at 5.15pm.  Dr David Henn of University College London will speak on ‘Fact, Fiction, and Franco’s Spain in Cela’s Travel Books’; Tom Burns Maranón OBE, a writer and journalist, will give a talk on the subject ‘Camilo José Cela, an Authentic Spanish Voice’ and the President of the Camilo José Cela Foundation, Marina Castano, will address the question of Cela’s cultural legacy. 

Francis Lough, Professor of Hispanic Studies and Head of the University’s School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music, says, ‘This collaboration between the University and the Cela Foundation is a marvellous way of bringing the work of Cela to the attention of English readers – most of his works are in fact available in English translation. It is also recognition that Birmingham was one of the first universities in the world to recognise Cela’s importance by awarding him an honorary doctorate.’

These events from part of a programme, organised by the Camilo José Cela Foundation based in Galicia in the north of Spain and funded by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, to visit each year the 25 universities around the world who awarded the Spanish writer an honorary doctorate.  The University of Birmingham honoured Cela in 1976. 

The events are free to attend and open to the public. 

Ends

Notes to Editors

For further information

Kate Chapple, Press Officer, University of Birmingham, tel 0121 414 2772 or 07789 921164.