Miguel de Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes was bone in Spain the son of a deaf surgeon on September 29, 1547. He entered the army in 1570 and was wounded in the Battle of Lepanto. Cervantes was captured by the Turks in 1575 and spent five years in a Turkish prison. In 1580 he was freed and returned to his homeland.
As a child Cervantes read everything he could. Where his reading ability and education came from is unknown. In 1569 his first published works appeared and he contributed poetry to a memorial collected upon the death of Elizabeth of Valois.
Cervantes was not afraid of fighting and war. He was stationed on the ship La Marquesa and fought against the Ottoman Empire. His left hand was completely maimed, but he continued to serve in the army.
Cervantes's first novel La Galatea in 1585 was not popular and Cervantes turned to theater. He then worked for the Spanish Armada as a commissary in 1580. He often landed in prison because of mismanagement charges. It was during this time Cervantes wrote his greatest masterpieces.
He published the first portion of Don Quixote in 1605. It became a worldwide best seller and has been translated into more than 60 languages. Cervantes published the second part of Don Quixote in 1615.
Writing Don Quixote did not make Cervantes rich, but he is credited with writing the first modern novel. Cervantes writings inspired Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Henry Fielding. His book has been honored in film The Man of La Mancha and by Pablo Picasso in art pieces.
In 1584 Cervantes and Catalina de Salazar y Palacios married. They had no children, but stayed married until Cervantes's death on April 23, 1616.