Spain is a Western European nation whose imperial history, civil war, and cultural diversity have produced a literary tradition of remarkable range — from the birth of the modern novel to contemporary bestsellers.
Spanish literature gave the world Don Quixote, widely considered the first modern novel and a work that defined the very idea of fiction. From Cervantes's comic genius to the noir mysteries of Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Spanish writers have explored the boundaries between reality, imagination, and madness.