Spanish writer David Uclés, 36, has announced a temporary retirement of one and a half to two years starting in August to travel abroad. He revealed it on Cadena Ser's En clave de Rhodes program and clarified it in a talk with EL PAÍS. Destinations: Venice and Prague, where he plans to write and enjoy leisure.
David Uclés, born in Úbeda (Jaén), made the initial announcement on the En clave de Rhodes program, hosted by pianist James Rhodes and broadcast from Zaragoza's Luis Galve hall. "In summer I'm going to retire; I'll be one and a half or two years doing nothing", he said. He added: "I'm going to write, I'm going to work, but I'm going to live. Right now I'm not living, I'm just working".
Uclés has endured two years of intense media exposure following the success of his novels La península de las casas vacías and La ciudad de las luces muertas. In a phone conversation with EL PAÍS, he specified the break starts in August, given his schedule until then: events in Oviedo this Tuesday, Gijón on Thursday, and signings at Sant Jordi.
He explained his reasons: "I write very well outside my environment. I always do. I'm going to take advantage of a scholarship in Venice to stay there and then go to Prague. There I'll spend leisure time and write". In an October 2025 EL PAÍS interview, he had already mentioned similar plans for Prague in 2027.
For context, Uclés previously withdrew from a course on the Spanish Civil War organized by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, titled 1936: La guerra que todos perdimos, due to sharing the bill with José María Aznar and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros. "They have tripped up democratic values and measures that define us as a modern and empathetic society", he argued. Pérez-Reverte postponed the event to October 5-9 in Seville.
