Mario Vargas Llosa was a writer from Peru. He wrote novels, essays and journalism and also took part in public life and politics. He became known in the 1960s for The Time of the Hero (1963) and The Green House (1965). Later novels included Conversation in The Cathedral (1969) and The War of the End of the World (1981). Another novel was The Feast of the Goat (2000). He received the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in 1967 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.
Vargas Llosa was born on 28 March 1936 in Arequipa, southern Peru. He began work as a journalist at sixteen and later finished school in Piura. From 1953, he studied law and literature at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. After graduating in 1958, he moved to Madrid on a scholarship and then to Paris in 1960.
The Time of the Hero, based on his school years, appeared in 1963 and won the Premio Biblioteca Breve. Its harsh portrayal of army life at a military school drew protests from Peruvian officers. The Green House followed in 1965, and in 1967 it won the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize. Conversation in The Cathedral (1969) showed power and corruption in Peru through one long barroom talk.
In the 1970s, he turned towards humour with Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973). He also wrote Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977). War of the End of the World (1981) was his first full historical novel about the Canudos revolt in Brazil. The Feast of the Goat (2000) showed the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and its impact on private lives.
Later fiction included the love story The Bad Girl (2006) and Harsh Times (2019) on the Guatemalan coup of 1954.
Like many Latin American writers, he initially backed the Cuban revolution but later broke with the government. In 1990, he ran for the presidency of Peru with the right Democratic Front bloc, but lost to Alberto Fujimori.
From the 1990s, he lived mainly in Madrid, kept links with Peru and gained Spanish citizenship in 1993. He later joined the Royal Spanish Academy and the Académie française.
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 fixed his place within the Latin American Boom. In his Nobel speech, he said: "I carry Peru deep inside me".
Mario Vargas Llosa died in Lima on 13 April 2025 at the age of eighty-nine. After his death, the government of Peru declared a national day of mourning.
Photo credit: Bernard Gotfryd (Public Domain)
Vargas Llosa was born on 28 March 1936 in Arequipa, southern Peru. He began work as a journalist at sixteen and later finished school in Piura. From 1953, he studied law and literature at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. After graduating in 1958, he moved to Madrid on a scholarship and then to Paris in 1960.
The Time of the Hero, based on his school years, appeared in 1963 and won the Premio Biblioteca Breve. Its harsh portrayal of army life at a military school drew protests from Peruvian officers. The Green House followed in 1965, and in 1967 it won the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize. Conversation in The Cathedral (1969) showed power and corruption in Peru through one long barroom talk.
In the 1970s, he turned towards humour with Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973). He also wrote Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977). War of the End of the World (1981) was his first full historical novel about the Canudos revolt in Brazil. The Feast of the Goat (2000) showed the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and its impact on private lives.
Later fiction included the love story The Bad Girl (2006) and Harsh Times (2019) on the Guatemalan coup of 1954.
Like many Latin American writers, he initially backed the Cuban revolution but later broke with the government. In 1990, he ran for the presidency of Peru with the right Democratic Front bloc, but lost to Alberto Fujimori.
From the 1990s, he lived mainly in Madrid, kept links with Peru and gained Spanish citizenship in 1993. He later joined the Royal Spanish Academy and the Académie française.
The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 fixed his place within the Latin American Boom. In his Nobel speech, he said: "I carry Peru deep inside me".
Mario Vargas Llosa died in Lima on 13 April 2025 at the age of eighty-nine. After his death, the government of Peru declared a national day of mourning.
Photo credit: Bernard Gotfryd (Public Domain)
years of life: 28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025
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