Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez(87)Dies Thursday April 17,2014

Gabriel Garcia Marquez has died at his home in Mexico on Thursday April 17,2014 and the cause was not immediately known 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was admitted to hospital in Mexico, where he has lived for the past three decades, on March 31,2014 suffering from lung and urinary infections

Gabriel Garcia Marquez spent 8 days there before returning home to his family, who said in a statement at the time that his health was ‘stable’ but ‘fragile’.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was awarded the Nobel prize in 1982 and is widely considered to be one of the best known Spanish language authors

Gabriel Garcia Marquez started his career as a journalist before becoming one of the forefathers of the narrative literary form known as 'new journalism' 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez fled to Europe when a dictatorship took control of Colombia 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was denied access to the U.S. for years because of his politics but grew close to President Clinton when the author condemned his impeachment 

During his career Gabriel Garcia Marquez achieved literary celebrity which spawned comparisons to Mark Twain and Charles Dickens

Gabriel Garcia Marquez behind a wife and two sons  

Front page from a local newspaper announcing the death of Colombian 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in Cali, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on April 17, 2014

  Gabriel Farcia Marquez Timeline -March 06,1927 - April 17,2014

1927 - Garcia Marquez is born on March 6 in Aracataca, a backwater banana-growing town near Colombia's Caribbean coast. The oldest child of a large family, he spends part of his childhood living with his grandparents and is especially close to his grandfather, a retired army man who inspired the novel "No One Writes to the Colonel."

1940 - Garcia Marquez moves to Barranquilla, a port city famous for its Carnival, to start high school.

1947 - He studies law at the National University in the Colombian capital Bogota and has two short stories published in the El Espectador newspaper.

1948-1950 - After riots force the National University to close and Garcia Marquez returns to Barranquilla, where he works as a reporter and starts writing his first novel, "Leaf Storm."

1954 - Garcia Marquez works for El Espectador. His tale about a Colombian sailor who survived a high-seas shipwreck, published in installments, causes controversy in Colombia.

1955-1957 - "Leaf Storm" is published. He lives in Paris, publishing essays about his travels in communist eastern Europe.

1958 - Garcia Marquez marries Mercedes Barcha in Barranquilla. They remain married for the rest of his life.

1959 - Soon after Fidel Castro's rise to power In a revolution, Garcia Marquez travels to Cuba on Castro's invitation. They become close friends. Mercedes gives birth to the couple's first son, Rodrigo.

1960-1961 - Garcia Marquez lives in Cuba for a short time, before moving the family to Mexico where he rubs shoulders with the country's literati, including author Carlos Fuentes. "No one Writes to the Colonel" is published.

1962-1966 - The couple's second son, Gonzalo, is born. Garcia Marquez writes several screenplays and works for publishers and advertising agencies. He spends nearly two years writing "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

1967 - "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is published in June, earning Garcia Marquez recognition and accolades around the world. The family moves to Spain, staying until 1975.

1975-1976 - "Autumn of the Patriarch," inspired by various Latin American dictators, is published. Garcia Marquez is punched in the face by Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa in a dispute that triggers endless speculation over why they fell out.

1979-1981 - He divides his time between Colombia and Mexico. During a trip to Europe, he meets Pope John Paul II. He begins work on "Chronicle of a Death Foretold."

1982 - Garcia Marquez wins the Noble Prize for Literature.

1983-1987 - "Love in the Time of Cholera" is published, "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" is made into a film.

1989 - "The General in his Labyrinth," about the final days of South American independence leader Simon Bolivar, is published.

1994 - Garcia Marquez establishes the Foundation for New Ibero-American Journalism to promote democracy and independent journalism in Latin America.

1996 - "News of a Kidnapping", a non-fiction account of the kidnapping of several prominent figures in Colombia by drug lord Pablo Escobar is published.

1999 - Garcia Marquez battles lymphatic cancer, which goes into remission after chemotherapy treatment.

2002-2004 - He publishes his memoir "Living to Tell the Tale" in 2002. Two years later, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" is released to mixed reviews.

2010-2012 - Garcia Marquez's editor says he is working on a new novel, titled "We'll See Each Other in August." A younger brother, Jaime, says that the author is suffering from dementia and can no longer write.

2014 - Garcia Marquez dies at his home in Mexico City.

 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez Novels

In Evil Hour (1962)

One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)

Autumn of the Patriarch (1975)

Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) 

The General in His Labyrinth (1989)

Of Love and Other Demons (1994)

The epic 1967 novel One Hundred Years Of Solitude sold more than 50 million copies in more than 30 languages – outselling everything published in Spanish except for the Bible

The story deals with the fictional town of Macondo, whose residents become infected by insomnia that shrouds them in forgetfulness.

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez with Fidel Castro in 2000

 Gabriel Garcia Marquez with Bill Clinton in 2007

Tributes to Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos also paid tribute to the author on Twitter, saying: ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude and  sadness for the death of the greatest Colombian of all time.’

Former US president Bill Clinton said: ‘From the time I read One Hundred Years of Solitude more than 40 years ago, I was always amazed by his unique gifts of imagination, clarity of thought, and emotional honesty... I was honoured to be his friend and to know his great heart and brilliant mind for more than 20 years.’

Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan said: ‘One would have to go back to Dickens to find a writer of the very highest literary quality who commanded such extraordinary persuasive powers over whole populations.

'It really is an extraordinary phenomenon, his literary career.’

Cristobal Pera, editorial director of Penguin Random House in Mexico, said: ‘He is like the Mandela of literature because of the impact that he has had on readers all over the world.
'His influence is universal, and that is a very rare thing.’

Colombian pop star Shakira:

"Dear Gabo, you once said that life isn't what one lived, but the life one remembers and how he remembers it to retell it... your life, dear Gabo, will be remembered by all of us as a unique and singular gift, and as the most original story of all. It's difficult to say goodbye to you, with all that you've given us! You will always be in my heart and in those of all who loved and admired you. Shak."
 
Peru's Nobel-winning writer Mario Vargas Llosa:

"A great writer whose work gave great exposure and prestige to the literature of our (Spanish) language has died. His novels will survive him and continue gaining readers everywhere."

Chilean novelist Isabel Allende:

"Very few literary works survive the ruthless passage of time, very few authors are remembered, but Garcia Marquez is in the pantheon of the classics. In order not to weep for him, I will keep reading him again and again."

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto:

"In the name of Mexico, I express sorrow over the death of one of the greatest writers of our time: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Through his work, Garcia Marquez made Latin American magical realism universal, marking the culture of our era."

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff:

"His unique characters and his exuberant Latin America will remain etched in the heart of the memory of millions of his readers."

Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho:

"He broke a wall between reality and fantasy, opening a path for an entire generation of South American writers."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro:

"Gabo left his spiritual footprint engraved in the New Era of our (Latin) America, One hundred years of Love for his eternal spirit."

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa:

"Gabo has left us, we will have years of solitude, but his works and love for the Great Fatherland (Latin America) remains. Until victory, always, dear Gabo!"