Carmen Mola, acclaimed Spanish suspense writer, turns out to be the pseudonym three men

(CNN) – Spain’s literary world has been thrown into chaos after a coveted award was awarded to “Carmen Mola,” an acclaimed thriller who turned out to be the pseudonym of three men.

Television scriptwriters Agustín Martínez, Jorge Díaz and Antonio Mercero surprised guests, including King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, at the Planeta Awards on Friday when they took the stage to collect the prize money and reveal that the famous The author of a crime novel did not really exist.

On the website of Mola’s agent, the writer, who has been compared to the famous Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, is described as a “Madrid-born author” who writes under a pseudonym in an attempt to remain anonymous. Mola’s description on the website also contains a series of photographs of an unknown woman looking away from the camera.

In previous interviews with Spanish media, Martínez, Díaz and Mercero had introduced Mola as a university professor who lived in Madrid with her husband and children.

Mola’s novels usually revolve around the character of the detective Elena Blanco, described by the publisher Penguin Random House as a “peculiar and lonely woman” and a lover of “grappa, karaoke, collectible cars and sex in jeeps.”

However, the book that won the Planet award was not a story starring Blanco. It is a historical thriller called “The Beast” set during a cholera epidemic in 1834 and that centers on a serial killer who is chased by a journalist, a policeman and a young woman.

Mola’s novels are well known for being gory and explicit, and the Spanish media have pointed out in the past that the contrast between Mola’s supposed life as a married university professor and the violent nature of the books served as a useful marketing tool.

In an interview with the real authors after the revelation, the newspaper El Mundo de España reported: “No one is aware that the idea of ​​a university professor and mother of three children, who teaches algebra classes in the morning and, at late, writing novels of savage and macabre violence has been a good marketing operation. “

The news surprised many literary figures, and not everyone is thrilled with the news. Beatriz Gimeno, who describes herself as a writer and feminist and was once the director of the Institute for Women, a key national body for equality in Spain, took to Twitter to criticize Martínez, Díaz and Mercero.

In a tweet, Gimeno said: “Beyond the use of a female pseudonym, these guys have been answering interviews for years. It is not just the name, it is the false profile with which he has taken readers and journalists. Scammers ”.

In 2020, a regional branch of the Women’s Institute included Mola’s work as part of a selection of “feminist reading” alongside Canadian poet Margaret Atwood and Spanish writer Irene Vallejo.

Mola was still listed as an author on the Penguin Random House website over the weekend. CNN has reached out to Penguin Random House for comment, but has not yet received a response.