Sergio Ramírez: From Sandinista Revolutionary to Spanish Academy

Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez (born 1942 in Masatepe), winner of the 2017 Cervantes Prize, has been elected to the Spanish Royal Academy. His biography is deeply intertwined with Nicaragua's history, notably his active role in the Sandinista revolution that took power in 1979, chronicled in books like *Estás en Nicaragua* and *Adiós muchachos*. Ramírez later broke with Daniel Ortega's regime, was expelled from the party in 1994, and eventually persecuted, stripped of his assets and nationality. He now lives in Madrid with his partner Tulita. The article traces his literary career from early works like *Tiempo de fulgor* through acclaimed novels such as *Castigo divino*, *Margarita, está linda la mar*, *La fugitiva*, and the recent *El caballo dorado*. His short story collections, including *Flores oscuras* and *Ese día cayó en domingo*, are praised as masterpieces. Ramírez reflects on the revolution's ethical failures, quoting Alejo Carpentier's *El siglo de las luces* and citing Salman Rushdie's account of their meeting in a European hotel where Ramírez appeared "sadder, more burdened." He describes politics as a "treacherous enemy of literature" but acknowledges it as an "irreplaceable experience" that left him with Voltaire's "taste for the office of public man" and a commitment to tolerance.