Carlos Ruiz Zafón Dead at 55

Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafón is dead today at the age of 55. Although an official cause of death has not been released as of this moment, it is known that the author had been suffering the effects of colon cancer since 2018. Zafón died in Los Angeles where he had lived for the better part of thirty years. 

Zafón is best known for his "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" series, a four-book series beloved by avid readers across the world. The series is so popular, in fact, that it has been published in forty languages and in forty-five different countries, making Zafón the most "widely published contemporary Spanish writer" of them all. 

The series began in 2001 with the publication of The Shadows of the Wind, a mystery about one man's mission to identify and stop the man who is attempting to destroy every copy of every book written by author Julian Corax. The second book in the series, a prequel to the first, was published in 2008 with the title of The Angel's Game. The series was concluded by  2011's The Prisoner of Heaven and 2017's The Labyrinth of Spirits. 

Zafón's most popular work is set in Barcelona and reflects the influence that nineteenth century writers had on his writing style. His novels have both a Dickensian flavor and a noirish tone that combine well to produce the kind of bookish thriller that particularly appeals to those who most love books and reading them. 

Over the years, Zafón's books have provided readers with some of their favorite quotes, such as these two from The Shadows of the Wind:

    "Every book, every volume you see here has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes downs it pages, its spirit grows and strengthens."

and,

    "Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside of us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day."

Zafón's work had a way of encouraging his readers to be "great readers," and along the way, he created more than his share of them. Now, they will miss him.