The American writer Dan Brown, internationally known for works such as The Da Vinci Code (2003), Angels and demons and inferno (2000) was honored with the Global Icon of the Year award this Thursday, December 10th Esquire Men’s Awards of the year 2025. The event, held at the Real Casino in Madrid, honored the career and influence of the author, who gave his acceptance speech in Spanish.
During his speech, Brown chose an ironic tone to begin his speech, recounting an anecdote that happened just before the ceremony: “A colleague just said to me: Daniel, I haven’t read your book, what’s the final secret? (referring to the title of his latest novel) And I told him that the greatest secret is, like a country with so much talent, the magazine.” esquire “He wants to give an award to a man who is not very modern, old, bald and also from the USA.” After this introduction, the author thanked him for this recognition on an evening in which, as he put it, he met “numerous leaders in their respective fields: great chefs, musicians, artists, athletes …”.
The author has laid out his vision of professional success, pointing out that achieving excellence in any discipline requires “imagination, Creativity and self-knowledgeIn this sense, he has highlighted the importance of reading as a driving force for the development of these skills, explaining that, as he said, “reading is a strong stimulus for the development of these qualities.” huffpost.
Brown recalls the beginning of his literary career and attributes it to his youth, when he lived in Gijón as an exchange student at the age of fifteen. He has stated that it was at this point that he began writing a diary and fell in love with Spain, highlighting his appreciation for the country’s gastronomy, landscape, culture, people and music. The author humorously recalled his time in a local rock band: “I even sang in a rock band called Piropo, we played terribly, yeah…Ricky Martin had nothing to worry about.”
Over the years, Brown returned to Spain every summer and spent an entire year studying Art history at the University of Seville. This experience, he explained, left its mark on his accent, which he describes as “a little Asturian, Andalusian and Bostonian.” A strange mix that was evident at the ceremony.
The morning before the gala, a journalist asked Brown about his relationship with Spain and the elements of Spanish culture that have most influenced him. The author has reported that the interviewer expected references to figures such as Cervantes, Picasso or Garcia Lorcahis reaction was different: “I told him that the three things I liked the most during those years were Mecano, Emilio Butragueño and churros with chocolate,” Brown said, according to his collected information. huffpost.
In addition to the writer, other personalities from various fields were also honored at the Esquiere Man of the Year 2025 Awards gala. Dani Martín received the Man of the Year award for music, Luis de la Fuente for sports, David Uclés for literature, Antonio and Alba Flores for Honorary Year, Gordon Ramsay for Gastronomy, Julio Peña for Cinema, Hernán Zin for Journalism, Eduardo Guerrero for Performing Arts and Unai Barta for Fashion.
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