wounded earth) published in 2005, takes the form of a dialogue between him and his eldest son, Miguel Delibes, the former head of Doñana national park. The book is a moving account of climate change. In 2007 he received the Quijote Prize for Spanish Literature, although in later years his literary production was practically nil, with just a few titles, such as De Valladolid (From Valladolid). Since he was disabled, Juan Carlos I and Sofia of Greece, the king and queen of Spain, personally visited the writer at his home in Valladolid after he was awarded the Vocento Prize for Human Values. He was recognized by his city with the creation of the Route of the Heretic based on his novel and the construction of the Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, which is both a conservatory and auditorium as well as a convention center. The president of the autonomous community of Castile and León gave him in November 2009 the Gold Medal of Castile and León in recognition of "his defense of Castillan" and described the author as a "master storyteller". Similarly, the Junta of Castile and León as well as numerous Spanish and international cultural and intellectual institutions proposed him repeatedly as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, the last time by the Society of Authors and Publishers in 2010 along with Ernesto Cardenal and Ernesto Sabato. Politics Although Delibes fought with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War, he was appalled by the level of repression, turned against Franco, and worked to restore democracy to Spain. In 1963, he was forced to resign from his position as director of the newspaper El Norte de Castilla for refusing to follow official instructions limiting the freedom of the press. In Delibes's view, the Reformation had enriched the Catholic faith. He held the opinion that the Spanish Civil War could've been avoided if the Church had a reformist pope like John XXIII who reconciled with modernity at the time. He has been described as a liberal Catholic, who sought to find a middle ground in between liberation theology and the authoritarian Catholicism of Franco. Death During the early days of March 2010 his health worsened, and on 11 March, the writer was in critical condition, conscious but heavily sedated, and his family expected his death within hours. Miguel Delibes finally died at his home in Valladolid early in the morning of March