Gabriel García Márquez was born in Aracataca, Colombia and worked as a journalist before he wrote novels. He was the oldest of twelve children and grew up listening to his grandparents’ stories, some of them tales of the fantastic. He was a journalist during La Violencia, a time of great turmoil in Colombia.
Many scholars credit García Márquez with introducing readers around the world to magical realism, a style and genre that combines conventional storytelling methods with vivid elements of fantasy. His most famous novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, is a prime example of magic realism. Published in 1967, the novel sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, launching García Márquez...