Francisco González Ledesma has been a lawyer, journalist and author.
His first award came in 1948 when he won the "Premio Internacional de Novela" (or International Novel Prize") for his novel "Sombras viejas", with jurors such as Somerset Maugham and Walter Starkie.
The novel suffered the censorship of Franco's regime and the promising future of his author seemed frustrated.
Costrained by the dictatorship, Ledesma started using the pen-name of Silver Kane to write popular novels for the Spanish publisher Editorial Bruguera.
Disappointed by the law practice, he studied journalism and started a new career in the editorial office of the newspaper “El correo catalan” and, later, for “La Vanguardia” (TN: one of the most important newspaper of Catalunya, the Barcelona’s region), becoming chief editor.
In 1966 Francisco Gonzalez Ledesma was one of the founders of the “Grupo democratico de prensa” (or “Democratic press group”), a clandestine press association active under the dictatorship of Franco with the purpose of defending the freedom of the press.
In 1977, after the fall of the regime and while democracy was consolidating in Spain, Ledesma published “Los Napoleones” and, in 1983, “”El expediente Barcelona”, that reached the final selection of the Blasco Ibanez Prize. This is the first novel starring Ledesma’s symbolic character, Inspector Méndez.
In 1984 he won the Planeta Prize for “Cronica sentimental en rojo” and his definitive recognition as a novelist. (translation of the original biography from the official site of the author; translated courtesy of www.gonzalez-ledesma.com)