Beloved Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa has died ‘peacefully’ at the age of 89.
The Nobel literature laureate passed away in Lima on Sunday surrounded by loved ones.
‘His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world,’ read a letter signed by his children Álvaro, Gonzalo and Morgana, and posted by Álvaro on X.
‘But we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him.’
Vargas Llosa was best known for his books ‘The Time of the Hero’ (La Ciudad y los Perros) and ‘Feast of the Goat,’ as well as his stance against Latin American dictators in later life.
The author’s lawyer and close friend, Enrique Ghersi, confirmed the death to The Associated Press and recalled the writer’s last birthday on March 28 at the home of his daughter, Morgana.
‘He spent it happy; his close friends surrounded him, he ate his cake, we joked that day that there were still 89 more years to go, he had a long, fruitful, and free life,’ Ghersi said.
Among those leading tributes to the visionary author were King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, where the writer spent long periods of his life.
Beloved Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa has died at the age of 89
He was awarded a Nobel prize for literature in 2010, with the committee commending his, ‘cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.
‘The Olympus of universal literature has opened its doors to Mario Vargas Llosa,’ the royal couple said.
He became a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1994 and held visiting professor and resident writer posts in more than a dozen colleges and universities across the world.
Vargas Llosa was born March 28, 1936, in Peru’s southern city of Arequipa, high in the Andes at the foot of the Misti volcano.
His father, Ernesto Vargas Maldonado, left the family before he was born.
To avoid public scandal, his mother, Dora Llosa Ureta, took her child to Bolivia, where her father was the Peruvian consul in Cochabamba.
He published his first collection of stories ‘The Cubs and Other Stories’ (Los Jefes) in 1959.
But he burst onto the literary stage in 1963 with his groundbreaking debut, ‘The Time of the Hero,’ a novel that drew on his experiences at a Peruvian military academy and angered the country’s military.
A thousand copies were burned by military authorities, with some generals calling the book false and Vargas Llosa a communist.
That, and subsequent novels such as ‘Conversation in the Cathedral,’ (Conversación en la Catedral) in 1969, quickly established Vargas Llosa as one of the leaders of the so-called ‘Boom,’ or new wave of Latin American writers of the 1960s and 1970s, alongside Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes.
The Nobel literature laureate passed away in Lima on Sunday surrounded by loved ones
Vargas Llosa was best known for his books ‘The Time of the Hero’ (La Ciudad y los Perros) and ‘Feast of the Goat,’ as well as the myriad prizes he won during his career
Vargas Llosa started writing early, and at 15 was a part-time crime reporter for La Crónica newspaper.
According to his official website, other jobs he had included revising names on cemetery tombs in Peru, working as a teacher in the Berlitz school in Paris and briefly on the Spanish desk at Agence France-Presse in Paris.
He continued publishing articles in the press for most of his life, most notably in a twice-monthly political opinion column titled ‘Piedra de Toque’ (Touchstones) that was printed in several newspapers.
Vargas Llosa came to be a fierce defender of personal and economic liberties, gradually edging away from his communism-linked past, and regularly attacked Latin American leftist leaders he viewed as dictators.
Although an early supporter of the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, he later grew disillusioned and denounced Castro’s Cuba. By 1980, he said he no longer believed in socialism as a solution for developing nations.
In a famous incident in Mexico City in 1976, Vargas Llosa punched fellow Nobel Prize winner and ex-friend García Márquez, whom he later ridiculed as ‘Castro’s courtesan.’
It was never clear whether the fight was over politics or a personal dispute, as neither writer ever wanted to discuss it publicly.
Vargas Llosa drew much of his inspiration from his Peruvian homeland, but preferred to live abroad, residing for spells each year in Madrid, New York and Paris.
Aitana (R) and Julio (back), grandchildren of late Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, arrive at their grandfather’s apartment
His remains will be cremated and there won’t be any public ceremony
He was awarded a Nobel prize for literature in 2010, with the committee commending his, ‘cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.’
Vargas Llosa had a colorful personal life and married his first wife after meeting her in a communist cell
The author met Bolivian Juila Urquidi, his uncle’s sister-in-law and the two eloped and married when she was 33 and he was in his teens.
In 1965, he married his first cousin, Patricia Llosa, 10 years his junior, and together they had three children.
They divorced 50 years later, and he started a relationship with Spanish society figure Isabel Preysler, former wife of singer Julio Iglesias and mother of singer Enrique Iglesias. They separated in 2022.
He is survived by his three children. Their letter announcing his death said his remains will be cremated and there won’t be any public ceremony.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
