David Uclés (Úbeda, 1990) a translation and Interpreting graduate, is an author, musician, illustrator, and translator. He has worked as a Spanish, German, French and English teacher in various countries and now writes for La Vanguardia, El País, Diario Jaén, and La SER. Born in Úbeda, he was named the city’s hijo predilecto (distinguished native) in 2025.

His third novel, La península de las casas vacías (Siruela, 2024), became an international phenomenon with more than 300.000 copies sold, becoming one of the bestsellers of 2024 and 2025 and 13 translations including French, German, Italian and Portuguese. For this novel, he received the Cálamo Award for Best Book of the Year 2024, the Andalusian Critics’ Award, the Espartaco Award for Best Historical Novel, the Dulce Chacón Prize, the San Clemente Prize, the Kelvin 505 Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Award for Best Novel at Festival 42, and the Andalusia Culture Award. It was also Spain’s nominee for the 2025 European Union Prize for Literature and a finalist for the Vargas Llosa Biennial. In 2024 it was chosen as the best Spanish novel of the year by Babelia’s annual list (2024).

He has also published the novels Emilio y Octubre (Dos Bigotes) and El llanto del león (The Cry of the Lion, Complutense Prize for Literature 2019), and has been awarded the Leonardo Grant, the Ministry Grant for Literary Creation, and the Montserrat Roig Grant. Magical realism predominates in his work.

La península de las casas vacías is also set to be adapted for film.