Carmen Martín Gaite (Salamanca 1925-Madrid 2000), novelist, poet, essayist and translator, published her first novel 'El balneario' ('The Spa') in 1955 and is one of the most outstanding representatives of the post Civil War generation. Particularly notable amongst her works are 'Entre visillos' ('Through Net Curtains') (Premio Nadal 1958), 'Ritmo lento' ('Slow Rhythm') (1963), 'El cuarto de atrás' ('The Back Room') (1978), 'El cuento de nunca acabar' ('The Never Ending Story') (1983), 'Usos amorosos de la postguerra española' ('Amorous Habits of the Spanish Post-war Period') (Premio Anagrama de Ensayo 1987), 'Nubosidad variable' ('Variable Cloudiness') (1992), 'Lo raro es vivir' (The Strange Thing is Living') (1996) and 'Irse de casa' ('Leaving Home') (1998). More recently, Carmen Martín Gaite has also received the 1988 Príncipe de Asturias prize and the Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas in 1994.