The editor Rafael Martínez Alés passed away this Tuesday in Madrid at the age of 83, after a long illness.

He was among the founders of the Cuadernos para el Diálogo magazine, of undeniable importance for Transición, and directed the publishing house linked to it, Edicusa.

He was also general director of the National Book Institute and, therefore, responsible for the National Publishing House. Between 1989, when it was bought by Anaya, and 1999 he was the editor-in-chief of Alianza.

 Promoted by Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez, the adventure of Cuadernos para el Diálogo ended in 1978, after 15 years. He excelled in the company of names such as director Pedro Altares (of whom he was much more than a friend), Juan Luis Cebrián, Gregorio Peces-Barba, Soledad Gallego-Díaz and Joaquín Estefanía.

At that time he was one of the promoters of Enlace, a collective project started from the idea of Carlos Barral, which brought together several (then) independent publishers (among them Anagrama, Lumen, Tusquets, Barral, Peninsula, Cuadernos, etc.) with a collection of paperbacks and a common distributor.

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