rafael sánchez ferlosio (4 december 1927 – 1 april 2019) was a spanish writer. in 2004, he was awarded the premio cervantes for his written work in the spanish language. he also won a premio nadal for his novel "el jarama" (1955). he helped writing in spain to become popular again after the spanish civil war, along with other young writers such as juan goytisolo and ana maría matute. he later stopped writing for around twenty years. he never said publicly why this was but critics have said it may have been a silent dislike of the spanish military dictatorship of francisco franco.