The writer known as Juan Farias, whose real name is Luis Enrique Urdiales Novillo, was born on March 31, 1935 in the city of A Coruña. He is known above all for his narrative aimed at a child and youth audience.
In his work, Juan usually makes detailed and accurate descriptions of the rural world, often set in the post-war era. Some of the characteristics that distinguish it are, also, its precise vocabulary and its political commitment.
Juan Farias’s work belongs to the genre of narrative, and we can divide it into two large blocks, since, since it began to publish until 1975, it is made up of novels written for adults. From this date, however, he opted for children’s and youth literature, a field in which he is best known and with a more prolific work.
In 1962 he published his novel “Calamus bridge“, Which is followed, after three years,”Numbered children“, In 1965, the year in which he also released another work,”The water seekers”, With which he manages to win the prestigious Nadal Award.
In 1968 he published “Great Cabotage“, And in 1970”The gut of the city”. They will follow these, “Shouting, Gilbert, furiously” Y “The perverted man”, The latter in 1975,
From this moment on, the work of Farias takes a turn, and in 1977 he already published for children and young people, with the work “The Map and the Birds: Mid-afternoon Stories”. This same year also publishes “The dog without tail”.
In 1980 he published “Some kids, three dogs, and more”, Work with which the National Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature.
Between 1983 and 1985 he published a trilogy under the name of “Mid-afternoon chronicles“, Which is composed of three works,”Difficult years”. “The pilgrims’ ship” Y “The guardian of silence”.
From here on, Juan Farias continues to publish throughout his life, and in his bibliography we find a very considerable number of works for children and young people. Among them we will cite, by way of example, “The gardener’s son“,”The little Nazis of ’43“,”Devil’s merchants“,”Pablo’s things“,”Round of sighs“Or”The ways of the moon”, Among many others.
In addition to those mentioned, they have a large number of awards to their credit, including some such as the City of Oviedo Award, the Santo Tomás de Aquino Prize for Short Novel or the Ibero-American Prize for Children’s and Youth Literature Ediciones SM.
Juan Farias died on June 11, 2011 in the municipality of Villaviciosa de Odón, in the Madrid community.