The 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Spanish writer Camilo José Cela, 1st Marquis of Iria Flavia (1916–2002) "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability.

While General Francisco Franco's dictatorship in Spain was in effect, he served as editor of the publication Papeles de Son Armadáns and gave voice to those who wanted to express themselves freely.

[2][4] Some scholars questioned the Swedish Academy's choice of Cela over the internationally better known Spanish-language writers Carlos Fuentes and Octavio Paz (awarded the following year).

[3] Julio Ortega, a professor of Hispanic studies at Brown University, said that Cela symbolized a changing, modernizing Spain.

"Among the older writers," he said, "Cela represents the searching for a better literature from the Franco years, through the democratic experiments and into European Spain.