Literary agent Carmen Balcells was a ground-breaking entrepreneur and much admired, as evidenced by comments from several of her colleagues.

The death of legendary literary agent Carmen Balcells will reverberate for weeks in the lead up to the Frankfurt Book Fair. 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. Márquez held her in such high regard that he referred to her a “Mama grande.” She was 85 years old.

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