Publishing Colleagues Share Admiration for Carmen Balcells

The death of legendary literary agent Carmen Balcells will reverberate for weeks in the lead up to the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two.. Balcells was one of the most powerful and influential figures in Spanish publishing of the last half-century, after setting up her agency in 1956 in Barcelona). represented such literary giants such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, Pablo Neruda, Miguel Ángel Asturias and Vicente Aleixandre. She was so important to Spanish literary cultural heritage that in 2010, the Spanish Ministry of Culture bought approximately 50 years of her personal archives for three million euros.