In addition to being a writer, Fernando Sánchez Dragó has been a journalist, essayist, literary critic and television presenter.
Fernando Sánchez Dragó has been married four times and has had four children: Alejandro, Ayanta, Aixa and Akela
The writer Fernando Sánchez Dragó dies at the age of 86
The writer Fernando Sanchez Dragowho passed away this Monday of a heart attack at the age of 86, has also been a journalist, essayist, literary critic and television presenter. Regarding his personal career, Sánchez Dragó married four times and had four children, the last, at 75 years old. From his first wife, Elvira, his firstborn Alejandro was born. Ayanta is the daughter of his already deceased second wife, Caterina. Aixa was born from his relationship with the French Martine Sáiz Pee and, finally, Akela who had it with the Japanese Naoko. Social networks have been filled with messages of condolences that recall the last tweet shared by the deceased a few hours after the sad news.
A trained philologist, Sánchez Dragó, one of the most well-known and controversial intellectuals on the Spanish cultural scene, received the National Essay Prize (1979) and the Planeta Prize (1992), practiced all literary genres, and is the author of more than forty works.
The last time we saw Fernando Sánchez Dragó in public was in Congress during Vox’s motion of no confidence
One of the last public appearances of Sánchez Dragó was in the Congress of Deputies on March 21 during the motion of no confidence in which the economist Ramón Tamames, a idea promoted by Sánchez Dragó himself.
On television he stood out for his program on literature “Black on white”, directed and presented by himon channel 2 of TVE, then on Telemadrid he presented “Las noches blancas”, between 2005 and 2012.
Born in Madrid on October 2, 1936son of the journalist Fernando Sánchez Monreal, assassinated at the age of 27 by a Falangist group in the Civil War.
Sánchez Dragó always he believed that he had been assassinated by the red sideuntil in 1956, when he was in the Carabanchel prison, he learned the truth.
Graduated in Romance Philology (1959) and in Modern Languages (Italian section), he received a PhD in Letters and was a high school teacher in Madrid.
He was imprisoned several times during the Franco regime for participating in university riots and belonging to the Communist Party. In the early 1960s, he fled Spain, upon learning that he had been sentenced to two years and four months in prison.
In 1967 he taught classes in Japan, at the University of Foreign Languagess “Gaigo Daigaku” and History of Spanish Thought at the Imperial University of Tokyo, as well as at the Japanese Diplomatic School.
Between the 70s and 80s it was Spanish Language and History teacher at the universities of Dakar (Senegal), Fez (Morocco), Amman (Jordan), Nairobi (Kenya) and Tsukuba National (Japan).
In journalism it began in 1955 when founded the poetic magazine “Aldebarán”. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he was a correspondent for the newspapers “El Alcázar” in Japan and “Informaciones” in Morocco, and a contributor to RAI and Japanese TV NKH.
Later he worked in “Encounters with letters” (1976-1981, TVE) and directed and presented the program “National Library” (1982-83, TVE).
Also in the 80s he was in eThe program “Tauromagia” (TVE), was columnist for “Change 16” and founder-director of the literary supplement “Dissidences” of “Diario 16” (1980-83). At the end of the decade (1989-90) he directed TVE the program “The world by montera”on religious, philosophical and esoteric themes.
As a writer he was part of the generation of ’56 and published poetry, essays and novels. Among his essays, “Gárgoris and Habidis. A magical history of Spain” (1978), for which he won the 1979 National Essay Award, which he returned to in “La España Mágica.
Finalist for the Planet Award in 1990 with his novel “The path of the heart” (1990), He got it with “The labyrinth test” (1992).
Fernando Sanchez Drago, evolved from materialist positions to idealism and spirituality
Influenced by oriental culture and religions, evolved from materialist positions to idealism and spirituality in their texts. In 1992 he released “La Dragontea. Diary of a warrior” and five years later, “On Shiva’s wire”: La Dragontea 2”. At that stage he also published “La del alba sería”, the first installment of “My encounters with the invisible”, spiritual memories, where he reflects on his childhood until he was 14 years old.
Also autobiographical was the compilation of his articles “La Dragontea” published in the magazine “Época” (1994-1997), “El camino hacia Itaca” (1998), or “Sentado alegre en la popa” (2004), in which they appear his articles from 1998 to 2000.
Since 1994 he has published in the newspaper “El Mundo” and was a columnist for its literary supplement “La esfera” (1996-97). In addition, he collaborated with Onda Cero, COPE and RNE.
In 1997 he returned to TVE’s dos with “Negro sobre blanco”, with the latest books to appear and which earned him the National Prize for the Promotion of Reading in 2000.
Wrote “Letter of Jesus to the Pope” (2001), an evangelical epistle in which he states that the life of Jesus Christ was more than debatable and “The path of the left hand” (2002), a vision of oriental philosophy and wisdom.
After undergoing heart surgery in 2004, he wrote “Kokoro, life or death. Dragó interviews Dragó” (2005), a self-interview that is “the chronicle of a trip to the land of the dead, a book full of life.
With “Parallel Deaths” (2006), where he recounted the death of his father, he won the Fernando Lara Novel Award.
He grouped writings, photographs, interviews and conversations with his friend Antonio Ruiz Vega, in “Libertad, fraternidad, inequalidad y derechazos” (2007), the year that presented “Diario de la noche” on Telemadrid.
In his work “And if he speaks ill of Spain… he is Spanish” (2008) He acknowledges distributing “firewood left and right” because there are only two things he likes about Spain, “the language and the bulls.”
He was also the author of “Soseki: Immortal and Tiger” (2009), “Magical story of the Camino de Santiago” (2010), “Those blue days. Memories of a rare child” (2011), “Blood pact: crossed lives” (2013) with his daughter Ayanta Barilli, or “The song of Roldán: Crime and Punishment” (2015), the year his program “Libros con uasabi” began (TVE, 2015-17).
In 2023 the writer was recognized with the Castilla y León Literature Award.
From anti-Franco and communist in its beginnings, went on to support Aznar’s Popular Party and Santiago Abascal’s Voxabout which he wrote “Santiago Abascal, vertebrate Spain” (2019).
Fernando Sánchez Dragó: This was his personal life and his professional career