Mario Vargas Llosa won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.” The prize is the first for a Latin American writer since 1990, after Mexico’s Octavio Paz.
As an author, he had an international breakthrough with the novel La ciudad y los perros (1963; The Time of the Hero, 1966). This novel, which builds on experiences from Leoncio Prado, was considered controversial in his home land. A thousand copies were burnt publicly by officers from Leoncio Prado.
His well-known works include Conversación en la catedral (1969; Conversation in the Cathedral, 1975), La guerra del fin del mundo (1981; The War of the End of the World, 1984) and La fiesta del chivo (2000; The Feast of the Goat, 2001). He is also a noted journalist and essayist.
To read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/books/08nobel.html?_r=1&hp
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/arts-post/2010/10/peruvian_writer_mario_vargas_l.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2010/bio-bibl.html
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“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 – Press Release”. Nobelprize.org. 7 Oct 2010 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2010/press.html
“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 – Bio-bibliography”. Nobelprize.org. 7 Oct 2010 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2010/bio-bibl.html