Luis Britto García

Luis Britto García
Born	9 October 1940 Caracas, Venezuela
Occupation	novelist, writer
Nationality	Venezuelan

Luis Britto García (born 9 October 1940, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan writer, playwright and essayist. His fiction has been recognised twice with the Casa de Las Américas Prize, for his works Rajatabla (1970) and Abrapalabra (1979). In 2002 he was the winner of Venezuela's National Prize for Literature, given as a lifetime achievement award. In 2005 he was recognized with the Ezequiel Martínez Estrada honorary award of Casa de Las Américas. In April 2012 he received Venezuela's Order of Juan Francisco de León. In May 2012 he was appointed by President Hugo Chávez to the Venezuelan Council of State, "the highest circle of advisers to the president" provided for in the Venezuelan Constitution.

Britto García graduated as a lawyer from the Central University of Venezuela in 1962 and obtained a doctorate in law from the same university in 1969. He obtained a diploma in Latin American studies at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris in 1982. He taught at the faculty of economics and social sciences of the Central University of Venezuela from 1966, becoming a full professor in 1988. His non-fiction work includes several historical studies of Caribbean pirates in the early Spanish Empire, including Demonios del mar: corsarios y piratas en Venezuela 1528-1727 ("Demons of the Sea: Corsairs and Pirates in Venezuela 1528-1727").

Britto García is however best known for his fiction. His two best known works are 1970's Rajatabla and 1979's Abrapalabra, both winners of the Casa de Las Américas Prize. Rajatabla is a collection of short stories which are "characterized by humour and irony, [and] refer to political repression and violence".Abrapalabra is a novel "which explores the cultural and political development of Venezuela" in the twentieth century.

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