A biography of Cuban President Raul Castro, penned by Russian writer Nikolai Leonov, won the Grand Readers' Prize at the XXVI Havana International Book Fair (FIL) on Saturday.

The book, "Raul Castro, a man in revolution", won the prize by being the most read and sought after book among Cubans during 2016, it was announced on Cuban state television.

Leonov, a personal friend of Castro, first presented the book in Cuba in July 2015 during a special session of the National Assembly. Its Spanish edition was first released at the 2016 edition of FIL.

The book chronicles the life of the former Cuban president from his birth in June 1931, and includes a timeline backed up with over 80 photographs, several of which have never been seen before.

Leonov and Castro first met in 1953 on a boat travelling from Genoa, Italy to Veracruz, Mexico. Over the course of a month at sea, they established a solid friendship "which survived the adventures of life," according to the writer.

Retired from military life with the rank of lieutenant-general, Leonov also holds a doctorate in historical sciences and is a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

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