Award-Winning female writer ‘Carmen Mola’ turns out to be three men

On Friday, three Spanish men were revealed to be behind the highly acclaimed award thriller La Bestia (The Beast in English) - under the pseudonym Carmen Mola.

At the glamorous Planeta Awards, the Carmen Mola name was used by three television scriptwriters who decided to step out from the shadows of anonymity to obtain their 1 million euro prize award.

While receiving the special prize, the trio stated that Carmen Mola wasn’t real, leaving onlookers in the audience, including the King and Queen of Spain Felipe and Letizia, in disbelief.

CNN reported that Carmen Mola is portrayed as a ‘Madrid-born author’ on “her” agent’s website and has even been compared to Italian novelist Elena Ferrante.

The website showcased images of an incognito woman turned away from the camera and stated that the author is writing under a pen name, hoping to remain anonymous.

But when it was time to accept the revered award, the scriptwriters, Agustín Martínez, Jorge Díaz and Antonio Mercero, unveiled the truth that they were behind the name, despite previously indicating that they were Mola had a husband and child, and a female university professor in Spanish media interviews.

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The story, which won the Planeta prize, was a historical thriller that took place in 1834 around the cholera epidemic. It chronicles the hunt for a serial killer by a young woman, journalist and policeman.

The grimness of Mola’s novels, compared to her apparent profession and daily livelihood, was previously named a “good marketing operation” by the El Mundo newspaper.

Beatriz Gimeno, who was a previous director of the Women’s Institute in Madrid, Spain, took to her Twitter to criticise the men for using the pseudonym and partaking in interviews for years,

“It is not only the name; it is the false profile with which it has taken readers and journalists. Scammers,” she wrote, in part.

Check out what other people had to say about the shocking revelation.

Last year, Mola’s work was previously included in the Women’s Institute’s selection of “feminist reading.”

The selection of works included other authors such as Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, which inspired a Hulu series of the same name.

Mola is still listed as an author of three books, excluding La Bestia on Penguin Random House’s website, although the three men have blatantly admitted to their authorship.