Spanish novelist Almudena Grandes dies at age of 61 - publisher

Spanish novelist Almudena Grandes has died, according to a tweet by her publisher, Tusquets Editores.

Grandes, one of Spain's greatest modern novelists, died in Madrid on Saturday at the age of 61, according to the El Pais newspaper. She had been suffering from cancer.

She became famous worldwide for her first work, "The Ages of Lulu," published in 1989. Describing a young woman's sexual awakening following the repression of Franco's Spain, it was praised as a breakthrough for eroticism in women's writing.

Grandes' later work addressed the Franco dictatorship, with novels such as "The Frozen Heart," and "Los pacientes del doctor Garcia" (Dr Garcia's patients).

Her many novels have been translated into more than 20 languages, and she won the National Literature Prize for Narrative and the Prix Mediterranee, among numerous other honours.

"We are losing one of the most important writers of our time," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Twitter. "With commitment and courage, she told our recent history from a progressive perspective."