Barcelona-born bestselling author Carlos Ruiz Zafón (1964-2020) is dead. The Spanish daily "El Mundo" reports, among other things. Zafón died in Los Angeles as a result of cancer. The writer passed away this Friday, it says on Twitter. He was 55 years old.
Zafón moved to Los Angeles in 1994 and focused on writing after working in an advertising agency. In 1993 his novel "The Prince of the Mists" was published, for which he was awarded the Premio Edebé de Literatura Juvenil youth literature prize.
"The Prince of the Mist" sold more than 150,000 copies. In 2001 "The Shadow of the Wind" was released. The novel stayed on the Spanish bestseller lists for weeks and later climbed to number one on the "Spiegel" bestseller list. Carlos Ruiz Zafón also inspired millions with his other Barcelona novels about the "Cemetery of Forgotten Books". "The Shadow of the Wind" was followed by "The Game of the Angel", "The Prisoner of Heaven" and "The Labyrinth of Lights".