Madrid - Novelist Juan Marse, 75, was Thursday awarded the Cervantes Prize, regarded as the literature Nobel of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish Culture Minister Cesar Antonio Molina announced in Madrid.

Marse, whose novels are often set in his home city Barcelona, was chosen because of his "capacity to reflect post-war Spain," the jury said.

Marse dropped out of school at age 13 and became a jeweller's apprentice after his adoptive father was jailed for being a leftist during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.