On Google's home page is a special Google logo, Doodle for Gabriel García Márquez, the famous Colombian novelist, writer, screenwriter and journalist, known as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. The animated Doodle represents the magical city of Macondo through his book One Hundred Years of Solitude.
He was born 91 years ago on March 6, 1927 in Aracataca, Colombia and died on April 17, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico at the age of 87. In 1982 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature and in 1972 the Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
He was an activist and always fought for what he thought was right. Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, called him "the greatest Colombian who ever lived."
Google wrote:
Born in Aracataca, Colombia, Gabo is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In his long literary career, he penned over 25 books, transporting readers into a world of magical realism where they find themselves in the lush, humid tropics — moldering into solitude or being slowly consumed by the throes of passion.Gabo’s keen sense of political activism and courage also allowed him to author a number of non-fictional works that eloquently document the times that he lived in, News of a Kidnapping being among the most famous of these.
For all this and more, we celebrate the 91st birthday of a cultural icon whose star continues to shine brightly over the literary and journalistic worlds of Latin America and beyond.
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