Carlos Ruiz Zafón, the Spanish author whose novel The Shadow of the Wind became a global bestseller, died Friday in Los Angeles, The Guardian reports. He was 55.
The cause of death was cancer, according to Reuters.
Ruiz Zafón, a Barcelona native, started his literary career as an author of young adult novels, including The Prince of Mist, The Midnight Palace and September Lights.
1His first novel for adults, The Shadow of the Wind, earned him a worldwide following. The book, about an 11-year-old boy who becomes fascinated with an obscure novel he finds in a secret library called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, was published in Spanish in 2001 and in English three years later. A reviewer for Kirkus said the book “will keep you up nights—and it’ll be time well spent. Absolutely marvelous.”
The Shadow of the Wind was part of a four-book series that also included The Angel’s Game, The Prisoner of Heaven, and The Labyrinth of the Spirits.
In a 2009 interview with Time magazine, Ruiz Zafón said his love of literature began when he was a child.
“My childhood was surrounded by books and writing,” he said. “From a very early age I was fascinated by storytelling, by the printed word, by language, by ideas. So I would seek them out…I always knew that I was going to be a writer because there was no other choice. I was always fascinated by the fact that you could take paper and ink and create worlds, images, characters. It seemed like magic.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
