Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (September 29, 1547-April 22, 1616), was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. He is the greatest writer in Spanish literature. His masterpiece, Don Quixote, originally published in two volumes (1605 and 1615), is partly based on Cervantes's five years as a slave in Algiers after being captured by pirates while sailing to Spain in 1575. Don Quixote is often cited as the first modern European novel, a classic of Western literature, and not only one of the best works of fiction ever written, but frequently cited as the greatest work of literature of all time.