Javier Cercas

Javier Cercas studied at Autonomous University of Barcelona and University of Barcelona. The recorded working language is Spanish. The field of work recorded is creative and professional writing, prose and opinion journalism. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are chronicle and essay. Jorge Luis Borges and Franz Kafka are recorded as an influence. Places of work recorded in the authority are Girona. Employment is recorded with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Girona. Positions recorded include Member of the Royal Spanish Academy. Works named in the authority record are Soldiers of Salamis, The Speed of Light, The Anatomy of a Moment and Terra Alta. Distinctions recorded are Salambó Prize, Calamo Awards, Medal of Extremadura and National Novel Prize.

• Honorific Prefix — The Most Excellent • Name — Javier Cercas • Born — 6 April 1962 • Birthplace — Ibahernando, Spain • Birth Name — Javier Cercas Mena • Occupation — Professor, writer • Education — University of Girona • Notable Works — Soldiers of Salamis; The Speed of Light; The Impostor • Awards — Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; European Book Prize

Javier Cercas was born in Ibahernando, Cáceres, Spain. He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of El País and the Sunday supplement. He worked for two years at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Illinois, United States. He is part of a group of well-known Spanish novelists who have published "historical memory" fiction, focusing on the Spanish Civil War and Francoist state, including Julio Llamazares, Andrés Trapiello, and Jesús Ferrero. Soldiers of Salamis (translated by Anne McLean) won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in 2004. McLean's translations of his novels The Speed of Light and Outlaws were also shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, in 2008 and 2016 respectively. During the 2014–15 academic year, he was the Weidenfeld Visiting Professor of European Comparative Literature at St Anne's College at Oxford, England. He was awarded the 2016 European Book Prize for The Impostor. In 2025 he released God's Fool, which he described as a "non-fiction novel", being a mixture of chronicle, autobiography and biography, about his travel to Mongolia with Pope Francis and talks of religion, Christianity in particular, while himself being atheist and anti-clerical.

Cercas's 2009 The Anatomy of a Moment was adapted into a TV miniseries in 2025.

Javier Cercas worked in creative and professional writing, prose, opinion journalism, translation and journalism. He was employed by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Girona. Recorded position is Member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He belonged to Royal Spanish Academy. He worked at Girona.

Javier Cercas is recorded as having received Salambó Prize, Calamo Awards and Medal of Extremadura.