of the year, he published El príncipe destronado (The dethroned prince), his eleventh novel. On 22 November 1974 his wife, Angela de Castro, died at the age of 50. Her death profoundly marked the writer for the rest of his life. Finally, on 25 May 1975, he delivered his inaugural address to the Royal Spanish Academy. Damaso Alonso, one of the leading members of the Generation of '27 and then president of the Royal Spanish Academy handed the academic medal to Miguel Delibes His induction speech, which dealt with The meaning of progress from my work, which he later edited into a book entitled Un mundo que agoniza (A world that is agonizing). That same year, his twelfth novel Las guerras de nuestros antepasados (The Wars of our Ancestors) saw the light. In the next three years, he published several books on hunting and his only book about fishing, Mis amigas las truchas (My Friends the Trout). This time period closed with the publication of El disputado voto del señor Cayo (The Disputed Vote of Mr. Cayo), his thirteenth novel. In 1979, the stage adaptation of Five Hours with Mario premiered in Spain starring the leading actress of Valladolid, Lola Herrera. Due to its success, the play was revived several times. That year, he released Castilla, lo castellano, los castellanos (Castile, Castilian Culture, the Castilians), a narrative anthology. 1980 and 1990: awards In 1980, the International Booksellers Seventh Congress that was held in Valladolid paid tribute to the writer. The big title of this period was Los santos inocentes (The Holy Innocents), published in 1981. The book is a form of social radiography that recounts the degradation of a rural family through the actions of the caciques of rural Extremadura. In 1982, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, sharing it with Gonzalo Torrente Ballester; and participated in the Congress "A literature for man", held in Reggio Emilia, Italy. During this decade he published books on hunting, stories, and collections of newspaper articles. In 1983, he was inducted as Doctor honoris causa by the University of Valladolid. The following year, he was awarded the Castile and León Prize for Literature by the Regional Government. In the same year, Miguel Delibes was named "author of the year" by the Spanish booksellers who bestowed the Golden Book award on him in recognition. At the end of the year, The Holy