10 Facts About Juan Goytisolo

Juan Goytisolo Gay was a Spanish poet, essayist, and novelist.

Juan Goytisolo lived in Marrakesh from 1997 until his death in 2017.

Juan Goytisolo was considered Spain's greatest living writer at the beginning of the 21st century, yet he had lived abroad since the 1950s.

Juan Goytisolo claimed that this level of status, accompanied by the cruelties of his great-grandfather and the miserliness of his grandfather, was a major reason for his joining the Communist party in his youth.

Juan Goytisolo's father was imprisoned by the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War, while his mother, Julia Gay, was killed in the first Francoist air raid of Barcelona in 1938.

Juan Goytisolo attended a Jesuit school in Barcelona after the Civil War, where he began writing fiction as a teenager.

Juan Goytisolo later attended law school at the University of Madrid and the University of Barcelona, but left without earning a degree.

In 2012, Juan Goytisolo confirmed that he was finished writing novels, saying he had nothing more to write and that it was better he kept quiet.

Juan Goytisolo continued to publish essays and some poetry.

Juan Goytisolo was married to the publisher, novelist and screenwriter Monique Lange, whom he met in Paris in the 1950s.