Corín Tellado

María del Socorro Tellado López (April 25, 1927 in El Franco, Asturias, Spain – April 11, 2009), known as Corín Tellado, was a prolific Spanish writer of romantic novels and photonovels that were best-sellers in several Spanish-language countries. She published more than 5,000 titles and sold more than 400 million books which have been translated into several languages. She was listed in the 1994 Guinness World Records as having sold the most books written in Spanish, and earlier in 1962 UNESCO declared her the most read Spanish writer after Miguel de Cervantes. Her novels were different from other contemporary Western European romantic writers' works because she usually set them in the present and didn't use eroticism, due to the Spanish regime's strict censorship. Her style was direct and her characters were simply presented. These novels have inspired several telenovelas.