José Manuel Caballero Bonald was a Spanish novelist, lecturer and poet. In 1959 he began to make friends with and collaborate with poets who would later make up the 50s Group. In February 1959 in Collioure (France), he attended the 20th anniversary of the death of Antonio Machado, along with Blas de Otero, José Agustín Goytisolo, Ángel González, José Ángel Valente, Jaime Gil de Biedma, Alfonso Costafreda and Carlos Barral. He moved to Bogotá, where he taught Spanish literature and humanities at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. There he started his friendship with the Colombian group of the Mito magazine (composed of Jorge Gaitán Durán, Gabriel García Márquez, Eduardo Cote, Hernando Valencia, Pedro Gómez Valderrama and Fernando Charry Lara, among others). In 1999 he was awarded the title of Favourite Son of the Province of Cadiz. He received the Golden Medal of the Fine Arts Circle and the Julián Besteiro Award for Arts and Literature. In 2004 he was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Cádiz. He also won the Queen Sofía de Iber-American Poetry Award. In 2012, he was awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize for his achievements in Spanish literature.