Carmen Mola, the pseudonymous Spanish female writer of crime thrillers, has been revealed to be three middle-aged men.
Agustín Martínez, Jorge Díaz, and Antonio Mercero revealed their identity while receiving the 2021 Planeta Award and a cheque of €1 million ($1.1 million).
The group of men won the prize for a book titled The Beast, which is a historical thriller set during the cholera epidemic in 1834.
During an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Mercero claimed, per The Guardian, that the men "didn't hide behind a woman, we hid behind a name".
"I don't know if a female pseudonym would sell more than a male one, I don’t have the faintest idea, but I doubt it," he added.
The three men worked as scriptwriters under their real names prior to writing together under the pseudonym Carmen Mola.
An author page from Mola's agent describes her as a Madrid-born writer who used a pseudonym in order to remain anonymous. The page also features a black-and-white photo of a woman turned away from the camera.
Mola had previously been presented as a female university professor living in Madrid with a husband and children, per CNN.
Although the text on the agency page has not been updated since the revelation, it does feature media releases about the author's true identity.
They have previously worked on the TV series Central Hospital and Blind Date.
Per Financial Times, Diaz said: "Carmen Mola is not, like all the lies we've been telling, a university professor."
"We are three friends who one day four years ago decided to combine our talent to tell a story," he said after winning the prize.
The revelation about the Spanish author has been met with some criticism.
Beatriz Gimeno — a former director of Spain's Women's Institute, a governmental institution working towards gender equality — called Martínez, Díaz and Mercero "scammers."
"Beyond using a female pseudonym, these guys have spent years doing interviews. It's not just the name, it's the fake profile they've used to take in readers and journalists," Gimeno wrote on Twitter, per CNN.
