Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian writer whose work explores the political corruption and military dictatorships of Latin America, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature.The Swedish Academy said it honored the 74-year-old author "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat."
Vargas Llosa has written more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including "Conversation in the Cathedral" and "The Green House." In 1995, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor.
His international breakthrough came with the 1960s novel "The Time of The Hero," which builds on his experiences from the Peruvian military academy Leoncio Prado. The book was considered controversial in his homeland and a thousand copies were burnt publicly by officers from the academy.
Vargas Llosa is the first South American winner of the prestigious 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) Nobel Prize in literature since it was awarded to Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1982.
Born-Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa
March 28, 1936 (age 74)
Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru
Nationality-Peruvian, Spanish
Alma mater National University of San Marcos,
Complutense University of Madrid
Notable award(s) -Nobel Prize in Literature
2010
Spouse(s)-Julia Urquidi (1955–1964)
Patricia Llosa (1965–present)
Children- Álvaro Vargas Llosa
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa
Morgana Vargas Llosa