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Birth of a Legend
Gabriel Jose Garcia Marquez was born to Luisa Santiaga Marquez Iguaran and Gabriel Eligio Garcia in Aracataca, Colombia. However, he was left to be raised by his grandparents while parents went off to make a living. His grandparents ultimately influenced Marquez's writing style and political outlooks. -
The Parents
At the age of 8, Marquez's grandfather died and his grandmother was too old to take care of him and so he moved in with his parents in Sucre. During this time, he was sent to boarding schools. His classmate called him the "old man" because Marquez would not play sports but rather write and draw cartoons in school. -
A Law School Stint
In 1946, Marquez enrolled into National University of Bogota to study law due to his parents' wishes. Eventually Marquez got bored and tired of being a law student and he dropped out in 1950 to pursue journalism and writing seriously. -
A Trip Through Europe
In 1955, Marquez was sent to Rome to cover the Pope's imminent death for the newspaper El Espectador. However, the Pope's health did not falter. He spent the next three years traveling through Europe since the newspaper went under due to political pressure. He learned a great deal about communism and foreign politics during this time of travel. -
Mercedes Barcha
When Marquez was 18 years old, he met 13 years old Mercedes Barcha and proposed to her then. However, she put off marriage until she was done with school. He returned to Colombia to marry her in 1958 and brought her to Caracas, Venezuela to settle down. He worked as an editor at a newspaper office. -
The First Born
While working in Colombia, Marquez and Barcha gave birth to heir first son, Rodrigo Garcia who is currently a television and film director residing in Los Angeles. In the same year as his birth, the family moved to New York City so that Gabriel Garcia Marquez can supervise Fidel Castro's North America branch of his news agency, Prensa Altina. The relationship between Marquez and Castro was an intellectual one according to the author and the two remained friends until the time of his death. -
Gonzalo Garcia
Due to his relationship with Fidel Castro, Marquez was under much political pressure from the American public. He resigned and relocated to Mexico City. He would later be denied visitor visas to the US. He gave birth to his second son Gonzalo Garcia, who is currently a graphic designer in Mexico City. -
One Hundred Years of Solitude
In January 1965, Marquez struck an epiphany while driving his family for a vacation to Acapulco. He cancelled the trip and returned home immediately to get started on "One Hundred Years of Solitude". He wrote continuously for 18 months. The family had to sell off every valuable possessions they have to supply Marquez with the paper and cigarettes he needed to write with. The novel was published in June of 1967 and became an instant sucess in South America. -
Nobel Prize in Literature
On 8 December 1982, Gabriel Garcia Marquez became the first Colombian ever to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was recognized for his cntribution to literature with his work in magical realism. Marquez used the money from his prize to start a daily newspaper, El Otro, in Colombia. -
A Medical Hiccup
Gabriel Garcia Marquez was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1999. With multiple treatments of chemotherapy, the cancer went into submission. In the years leading to his death, Marquez was working on his autobiography after the frightenng cancer episode.His health condition steadily decline in the following years after his diagnosis. -
Death of a Legend
García Márquez succumbed to a pneumonia infection at the age of 87 on 17 April 2014 in Mexico City. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and countless literary masterpieces. Latin Americans and all literary writers mourned his death.
