Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish Author
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His masterpiece, Don Quixote, is considered the first modern European novel, a classic of Western literature, and regarded as one of the best works of fiction ever written. Don Quixote, fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha) follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, who reads too many chivalric novels, and sets out to revive chivalry under the name of Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza as his squire. Published in two volumes a decade apart, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. Cervantes was dubbed El Pr?ncipe de los Ingenios (The Prince of Wits). Cervantes died in 1616. To honor the date that both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died, UNESCO established April 23 as the International Day of the Book, but since the Gregorian calendar was ten days ahead of the Julian, Cervantes actually died ten days earlier than Shakespeare
