Mario Vargas Llosa, the acclaimed Peruvian-Spanish author and Nobel Prize winner known for his powerful critiques of authoritarianism and his brief foray into politics, has died at the age of 89, his family announced.
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,” read a statement shared by his son, Álvaro Vargas Llosa, on X.
Renowned for works like Conversation in the Cathedral (1969), The War of the End of the World (1981), and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977), his literary legacy spans decades. The latter was adapted into the 1990 film Tune in Tomorrow, starring Barbara Hershey and Keanu Reeves.
In 2010, Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Swedish Academy described as “his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.”
In their tribute, his children reflected on his life: “His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world. 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.”
A private ceremony will be held to honour his memory, attended by family and close friends.
Peru’s President, Dina Boluarte, mourned his passing, calling him “an illustrious Peruvian of all time.” A statement from her office hailed his “intellectual genius” and “everlasting legacy for future generations.”
Born in Arequipa, southern Peru, Vargas Llosa spent part of his childhood in Bolivia before returning to Peru for his studies. He attended military school, followed by the National University of San Marcos in Lima. In 1952, he debuted with a play titled La Huida del Inca, and soon became a key voice in the Peruvian literary scene.
He worked as a journalist and broadcaster, later moving to Paris after studies in Madrid. His breakthrough came in 1963 with The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros), which gained international recognition. Other acclaimed novels followed, including The Green House (1966) and Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973).
After time teaching in London and the United States, and a period living in Barcelona, he returned to Lima in the mid-1970s. A collection of his essays appeared in English in 1978.
In 1990, Vargas Llosa entered politics, running for president of Peru with a platform focused on classical liberalism. After losing to Alberto Fujimori, he moved to Spain and gained Spanish citizenship in 1993, later receiving the Cervantes Prize in 1994.
His later works include The Feast of the Goat (2000) and The Bad Girl (2006).
When accepting the Nobel Prize, he praised Gustave Flaubert as a literary model and stressed literature’s role in exposing injustice and inequality. “I think literature is pleasure,” he said, “but it’s also a very important instrument to move forward in life.”
