The author of one of the biggest-ever-selling books on the Spanish Civil War is to give this week’s Gibraltar Lecture.

The organisers of the Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival are delighted to announce that military historian Antony Beevor has agreed to step in at the last minute to speak at the festival’s centrepiece event.

Beevor’s The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) spent 12 weeks in the Spanish bestseller list when it was first published. It was in the Spanish top ten for five months all told, selling 50,000 copies in hardback and winning the La Vanguardia prize for non-fiction.

He has agreed to speak in place of Professor Paul Preston, who was due to talk about his work, The Spanish Holocaust. Professor Preston had to withdraw because he was too unwell to travel to Gibraltar.

Festival director Sally Dunsmore said: “We are thrilled that Antony Beevor has agreed to speak at this year’s festival and are grateful to him for stepping in at such short notice.

“His book on the Spanish Civil War was a publishing sensation in Spain and in many other countries, including the UK. I am sure this event will prove to be every bit as popular as Professor Preston’s was set to be.”

"This is excellent news for our Festival," said Neil Costa, Minister for Tourism.

"It is indeed a privilege that Antony Beevor has agreed to step in at the last minute and deliver a speech on the Spanish Civil War, as Professor Preston was due to do. To have a writer of the international standing of Antony Beevor at our Festival further raises the profile of what promises to be a most successful event."

Tickets for the Professor Preston event can be exchanged for a refund or for this or any other event either through the online box office, if purchased online, or at the Gibraltar box office in the Tourist Information Office, Casemates Square.