thumb|Gabriel José García Márquez podepisuje Sto roků samoty

'''Gabriel José García Márquez''' (*6. března 1928, Aracataca, Kolumbie) je
kolumbijský španělsky.

Často je považován za nejdůležitějšího představitele tzv. magického realismu,
přestože je jeho dílo příliš rozmanité na to, aby mohlo být jednoznačně zařazeno.

García Márquez se narodil v městečku Aracataca na severu Kolumbie. Dětství prožil se svými
prarodiči, kteří významně ovlivnili jeho pozdější tvorbu. Jeho dědeček byl plukovníkem v kolumbijské
občanské válce na straně liberálů, babička pak pověrčivá žena znalá lidových pověstí.

Střední školu navštěvoval v hlavním městě Bogotě, na vysoké studoval práva, ale studia nedokončil.
Od roku 1948 byl novinářem a dopisovatelem různých provinčních novin. Jako zpravodaj významného
bogotského listu ''El Espectador'' se dostal do Evropy, stejné zaměstnání měl i na
revoluční Kubě. V padesátých letech napsal několik povídkových próz, se kterými ovšem
nebyl příliš spokojen, a tak se pustil do psaní filmové kritiky, v Římě dokonce vystudoval režii.
Na krátko se pak vrátil do Kolumbie, kde se jeho ženou stala Mercedes Bacha. V té době (1961)
se s rodinou přestěhoval do Mexika. Později v Barceloně psal i filmové
scénáře.

V roce 1967 se konečně dostavil literární úspěch — ''Sto roků samoty'', za tři roky se
prodalo více než půl milionu výtisků. Dílo psal zavřený v pracovně po osmnáct měsíců, než konečně vyšel
s třinácti sty stránkami rukopisu notně čpícími nikotinem. Prodeje pomohly Garcíovi Márquezovi dostat
se z dluhů a poskytly mu možnost věnovat se psaní po zbytek života.

V polovině sedmdesátých let se pod vlivem událostí v Jižní Americe vrací na rodný kontinent.

V roce Nobelovu cenu za literaturu ''„za své romány a povídky, v nichž se neskutečné snoubí s reálným ve světě plném představivosti a odrážejícím život a konflikty kontinentu“''.

García Márquez je také zmiňován jako přítel Fidela Castra a příznivce různých revolučních skupin v Jižní Americe.

== Dílo ==

Jeho styl je plný nadsázek a fantastických motivů, které se objevují v místech všedního
života. Společným rysem je vyprávění velkých příběhů, které roztříští na mnoho bezvýznamných
epizod, čímž se dílo stává záměrně nepřehledným. Čas podle něj neplyne, ale otáčí se dokola.

Základními tématy pro něj jsou: láska, smrt, samota a stárnutí.

Svým postavám přikládá mythologické rozměry a legendární vlastnosti ještě dříve, než by si je jakýmkoliv svým jednáním zasloužily.

*1955 – ''Všechna špína světa (La hojarasca)'' česky 2006 ISBN 80-207-1205-4 (v české literatuře uváděno též jako Spadané listí)
*1961 – ''Plukovníkovi nemá kdo psát (El coronel no tiene quien le escriba)''
*1962 – ''Pohřby velké Mámy (Los funerales de la Mamá Grande)''
*1962 – ''Oči modrého psa(Ojos de perro azul)''
*1962 – ''Zlá hodina (La mala hora)'' 
*1967 – ''Sto roků samoty (Cien años de soledad)'' česky ISBN 80-207-1139-2
*1970 – ''Zpověď trosečníka (Relato de un náufrago)'' česky 2004, ISBN 80-207-1158-9
*1975 – ''Podzim patriarchy (El otoño del patriarca)'' česky ISBN 80-207-1171-6
*1978 – ''Neuvěřitelná a smutná historie Cándidy Eréndirové a její kruté babičky (La increíble y triste historia de Cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada)'' 
*Kronika ohlášené smrti'' česky ISBN 80-207-1183-X
*1985 – ''Láska za časů cholery (El amor en los tiempos del cólera)'' česky ISBN 80-207-1144-9 - román o velké nesmrtelné lásce, Florentino Ariza miluje dívku, začíná ji milovat v 17 ti letech, ona ho odmítne, vdá se za někoho jiného, nenaplněná láska, čeká až ji manžel zemře (72 let), pak se dají dohromady, dojde k naplnění lásky, láska jako hybný princip.
*1987 – ''Dobrodružství Miguela Littína v Chile (La aventura de Miguel Littín clandestino en Chile)''
*1989 – ''Generál ve svém labyrintu (El general en su laberinto)'' česky ISBN 80-207-1177-5
*1992 – ''Dvanáct povídek o poutnících (Doce cuentos peregrinos)'' česky ISBN 80-207-1191-0
*1994 – ''O lásce a jiných běsech (Del amor y otros demonios)'' česky ISBN 80-207-1151-1
*1996 – ''Zpráva o jednom únosu (Noticia de un secuestro)'' 
*2002 – ''Žít, abych mohl vyprávět (Vivir para contarla)'' česky 2003, ISBN 80-207-1150-3
*2004 – ''Na paměť mým smutným courám (Memoria de mis putas tristes)'' česky 2005, ISBN 80-207-1187-2

*1979 – ''V tomhle městečku se nekrade'' - český výbor z ''El coronel no tiene quien le escriba'', ''Los funerales de la mamá grande'' a ''La inscreíble y triste historia de Cándida Eréndira y de su abuela desalmada''

{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox Writer/doc -->
| name = Gabriel García Márquez
| awards =  <!-- do not add nobel image see :Template:Infobox writer -->
| image = Gabriel Garcia Marquez 1984.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = García Márquez during a visit to Valledupar, Colombia (c. 1984).
| birthdate = 
| birthplace = Magdalena, Colombia
| nationality = Colombia
| deathdate =
| deathplace =
| occupation = novelist, short-story writer, and journalist.
| genre = 
| influences = 
| influenced =
| signature = Gabriel Marquez Signature.png
}}  

'''Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez''' (born March 6, <!--DO NOT CHANGE DATE OF BIRTH, 1927 IS CORRECT HE BECAME 80 YEARS OLD IN OF 2007-->1927<ref name="BBC80"></ref>) is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. García Márquez, familiarly known as "Gabo" in his native country, is  considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. In 1982, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in his leaving law school for a career in journalism.  From early on, he showed no inhibitions in his criticism of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha and they have two sons.  

He started as a journalist, and has written many acclaimed non-fiction works and short stories, but is best-known for his novels, such as ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (1967) and ''Love in the Time of Cholera'' (1985). His works have achieved significant critical acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled as magical realism, which uses magical elements and events in order to explain real experiences. Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo, and most of them express the theme of solitude.

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
thumb|right|200px|Billboard of [[Gabriel García Márquez in Aracataca. It reads: "I feel like an American from whatever country, but I have never renounced the nostalgia of my homeland: Aracataca, to which I returned one day and discovered that between the reality and the nostalgia was the primary material for my work". —Gabriel García Márquez]]

Gabriel García Márquez was born on March 6, 1927 in the town of Aracataca, Colombia, to Gabriel Eligio García and Luisa Santiaga Márquez.<ref></ref><ref name=bell-villadaxix></ref> Soon after García Márquez was born, his father became a pharmacist. In January 1929, his parents moved to Baranquilla<ref name = "cthcjv"></ref><ref name="simons"></ref> while García Marquez stayed in Aracataca. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, Doña Tranquilina Iguarán and Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía.<ref name = "cthcjv"/><ref></ref> When he was eight, his grandfather died, and he moved to his parents' home in Barranquilla where his father owned a pharmacy.<ref name="AMGM12"></ref><ref></ref>

When his parents fell in love their relationship met with resistance from Luisa Santiaga Marquez's father, the Colonel. Gabriel Eligio García was not the man the Colonel had envisioned winning the heart of his daughter: he was a Conservative, and had the reputation of being a womanizer.<ref name = "fcyrqq"></ref><ref name=GM45></ref> Gabriel Eligio wooed Luisa with violin serenades, love poems, countless letters, and even telegraph messages after her father sent her away with the intention of separating the young couple. Her parents tried everything to get rid of the man, but he kept coming back, and it was obvious their daughter was committed to him.<ref name = "fcyrqq"/> Her family finally capitulated and gave her permission to marry him.<ref></ref><ref></ref> (The tragicomic story of their courtship would later be adapted and recast as ''Love in the Time of Cholera''.<ref name=GM45/><ref></ref>)

Since García Márquez's parents were more or less strangers to him for the first few years of his life,<ref name = "cthcjv"/> his grandparents influenced his early development very strongly.<ref name = "mooaza"></ref><ref></ref> His grandfather, who he called "Papalelo",<ref name = "mooaza"/> was a Liberal veteran of the Thousand Days War.<ref></ref> The Colonel was considered a hero by Colombian Liberals and was highly respected.<ref></ref> He was well-known for his refusal to remain silent about the banana massacres that took place the year García Márquez was born.<ref></ref> The Colonel, whom García Márquez has described as his "umbilical cord with history and reality",<ref name="simons" /> was also an excellent storyteller.<ref></ref> He taught García Márquez lessons from the dictionary, took him to the circus each year, and was the first to introduce his grandson to ice—a "miracle" found at the United Fruit Company store.<ref></ref> He would also occasionally tell his young grandson "You can't imagine how much a dead man weighs",<ref name = "lydaul"></ref><ref></ref> reminding him that there was no greater burden than to have killed a man, a lesson that García Márquez would later integrate into his novels.

García Márquez's political and ideological views were shaped by his grandfather's stories.<ref name = "lydaul"/> In an interview, García Márquez told his friend Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, "my grandfather the Colonel was a Liberal. My political ideas probably came from him to begin with because, instead of telling me fairy tales when I was young, he would regale me with horrifying accounts of the last civil war that free-thinkers and anti-clerics waged against the Conservative government."<ref></ref><ref></ref> This influenced his political views and his literary technique so that "in the same way that his writing career initially took shape in conscious opposition to the Colombian literary status quo, García Márquez's socialist and anti-imperialist views are in principled opposition to the global status quo dominated by the United States".<ref></ref>

García Márquez's grandmother, Doña Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes, played an equally influential role in his upbringing. He was inspired by the way she "treated the extraordinary as something perfectly natural."<ref name="AMGM12"/> The house was filled with stories of ghosts and premonitions, omens and portents<ref></ref>, all of which were studiously ignored by her husband.<ref name = "mooaza"/>  According to García Márquez she was "the source of the magical, superstitious and supernatural view of reality".<ref name="simons" /> He enjoyed his grandmother's unique way of telling stories. No matter how fantastic or improbable her statements, she always delivered them as if they were the irrefutable truth. It was a deadpan style that, some thirty years later, heavily influenced her grandson's most popular novel, ''One Hundred Years of Solitude''.<ref></ref>

===Education===
In 1940, García Márquez left his family who had moved a year earlier to [[Department of Sucre|
Sucre]] in order to begin his secondary school education at the Jesuit boarding school of San José in Barranquilla.<ref></ref><ref></ref> At San José, he first published his words in the school magazine ''Juventud''.<ref></ref> On a visit to his parents in Sucre, he met Mercedes Barcha at a student dance, and knew right away that he intended to marry her when they were finished with their studies.<ref></ref>

In 1943, he was awarded a scholarship to attend the Liceo Nacional de Varones in Zipaquirá, a city thirty miles north of Bogotá.<ref name=bell-villadaxix/><ref></ref> In an interview, García Márquez noted,"My literary background was basically in poetry, but bad poetry ... I started out with the poetry that appeared in grammar books. I realized that what I most liked was poetry and what I most hated was Spanish class, grammar."<ref></ref> During this period García Márquez also read a wide variety of European classics in addition to Spanish and Colombian literature.<ref name=bell-villadaxix/><ref name=bell-villada81></ref>

After graduation in 1947, he started law school at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá.<ref name=bell-villadaxix/><ref></ref> While in Bogotá, García Márquez took up a program of self-directed reading. ''Metamorphosis'' by Franz Kafka was one work which particularly inspired him. He was excited by the idea that one could write acceptable literature in an untraditional style that was so similar to his grandmother's stories which "inserted bizarre events into an ordinary setting and related those anomalies as if they were just another aspect of everyday life".<ref></ref> He was now more eager to be a writer than before.<ref></ref> Soon after, his first published story ''La tercera resignación'' appeared in the September 13, 1947 edition of the newspaper ''El Espectador''.<ref></ref>  

Although his passion was now writing, he continued in the law school in 1948 to please his father.<ref></ref> During the Bogotá riots on El Heraldo''.<ref name="pelayo5"></ref> In his autobiography, he says: "I had left the university a year before with the rash hope that I could earn a living in journalism and literature without any need to learn them, inspired by a sentence I believe I had read in George Bernard Shaw, 'From a very early age I've had to interrupt my education to go to school.'"<ref></ref> Although García Márquez never finished university, Columbia University in New York awarded him an honorary doctorate of letters in 1971.<ref></ref>

===Journalism===
García Márquez began his career as a journalist while studying law in university. In 1948 and 1949 he wrote for ''El Universal'' in Cartagena. Later, from 1950 until 1952, he wrote a "whimsical column under the name of "''Septimus''" for the local paper ''El Heraldo'' in Barranquilla.<ref></ref> García Márquez noted of his time at ''El Heraldo'', "I'd write a piece and they'd pay me three pesos for it, and maybe an editorial for another three."<ref></ref> During this time he became an active member of the informal group of writers and journalists known as the Barranquilla Group, an association that provided great motivation and inspiration for his literary career. He worked with inspirational figures such as Ramon Vinyes, who García Márquez depicted as an Old Catalan who owns a bookstore in ''One Hundred Years of Solitude''.<ref></ref> At this time, García Márquez was also introduced to the works of writers such as Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner. Faulkner's narrative techniques, historical themes and use of provincial locations influenced Latin American authors.<ref name="Bell7"></ref> The environment of Barranquilla gave García Márquez a world-class literary education and provided him with a unique perspective on Caribbean culture. From 1954 to 1955, García Márquez spent time in Bogotá and regularly wrote for Bogotá's ''El Espectador''. He was a regular film critic which drove his interest in film. 

====''The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor''====

Ending in controversy, his last domestically-written editorial for ''El Espectador'' was a series of fourteen news articles<ref name="pelayo5"/><ref name="McMurray6"></ref> in which he revealed the hidden story of how a Colombian Navy vessel's shipwreck "occurred because the boat contained a badly stowed cargo of contraband goods that broke loose on the deck."<ref name="McMurray7"></ref> 
García Márquez compiled this story through interviews with a young sailor who survived the shipwreck.<ref name="McMurray6"/> The publication of the articles resulted in public controversy, as they discredited the official account of the events, which had blamed a storm for the shipwreck and glorified the surviving sailor.  

In response to this controversy ''El Espectador'' sent García Márquez away to Europe to be a foreign correspondent.<ref></ref> He wrote about his experiences for ''El Independiente'' which was later shut down by Colombian authorities.<ref name="Bell7"/> García Márquez's background in journalism provided a foundational base for his writing career. Literary critic Bell-Villada noted, "Owing to his hands on experiences in journalism, García Márquez is of all the great living authors the one who is closest to everyday reality."<ref></ref>

=== Marriage and family ===
Since García Márquez had met Mercedes Barcha, they had been waiting to finish school in order to get married.  When he was sent to Europe as a foreign correspondent, Mercedes waited for him to return to Barranquilla. They were finally wed in 1958.<ref name="saldívar372"></ref><ref name="pelayo7"></ref> The following year, their first son, Greyhound bus throughout the southern United States and eventually settled in Mexico City.<ref></ref> García Márquez had wanted to see the Southern United States because it had inspired the writings of William Faulkner.<ref name="pelayo8">.</ref> Three years later the couple's second son, Gonzalo, was born in Mexico.<ref name=bell-villadaxxi></ref> Gonzalo is currently a graphic designer in Mexico City.<ref name="pelayo8"/>

=== ''Leaf Storm'' ===

''Leaf Storm'' (''La Hojarasca'') is García Márquez's first novella and was published in 1955. García Márquez notes that "of all that he had written (as of 1973), ''Leaf Storm'' was his favorite because he felt that it was the most sincere and spontaneous."<ref></ref> All the events of the novel take place in one room, during a half-hour period on Wednesday September 12, 1928. It is the story of an old colonel (similar to García Márquez's own grandfather) who tries to give a proper Christian burial to an unpopular French doctor. The colonel is supported only by his daughter and grandson. The novel explores the child's first experience with death by following his stream of consciousness. As well, the book reveals the perspective of Isabel, the Colonel's daughter, which provides a feminine point of view.<ref name="pelayo5"/>

=== ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' ===

Since García Márquez was eighteen, he had wanted to write a novel based on his grandparents' house where he grew up. However, he struggled with finding an appropriate tone and put off the idea until one day the answer hit him while driving his family to Acapulco.  He turned the car around and the family returned home so he could begin writing.  He sold his car so his family would have money to live off of while he wrote, but writing the novel took far longer than he expected, he wrote everyday for eighteen months. His wife had to ask for food on credit from their butcher and their baker as well as nine months of rent on credit from their landlord.<ref></ref>  Fortunately, when the book was finally published in 1967 it became his most commercially successful novel, ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (''Cien años de soledad'') (1967; English translation by Gregory Rabassa 1970).  The story chronicles several generations of the Buendía family from the time they found the fictional South American village Macondo through their trials and tribulations, instances of incest, births, and deaths. The history of Macondo is often generalized by critics to represent rural towns throughout Latin America or at least near García Márquez's native Aracataca.<ref></ref><ref name = "xqsoal"></ref>

This novel was widely popular and led to García Márquez's Nobel Prize as well as the William Kennedy has called it "the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race,"<ref></ref> and hundreds of articles and books of literary critique have been published in response to it. However, García Márquez himself does not completely understand the success of this particular book: "Most critics don't realize that a novel like ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' is a bit of a joke, full of signals to close friends; and so, with some pre-ordained right to pontificate they take on the responsibility of decoding the book and risk making terrible fools of themselves."<ref name = "xqsoal"/>

=== Fame ===
thumb|right130px|García Márquez signing a copy of ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude'' in Havana, Cuba.]]

After writing ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' García Márquez returned to Europe, this time bringing along his family, to live in ELN organizations.<ref> </ref><ref> </ref> The popularity of his writing also led to friendships with powerful leaders, including one with former Cuban president Fidel Castro, which has been analyzed in ''Gabo and Fidel: Portrait of a Friendship.''<ref></ref> In an interview with Claudia Dreifus in 1982 García Márquez notes his relationship with Castro is mostly based on literature: “Ours is an intellectual friendship. It may not be widely known that Fidel is a very cultured man. When we’re together, we talk a great deal about literature.”<ref></ref> 

Also due to his newfound fame and his outspoken views on U.S. imperialism he was labeled as a subversive and for many years was denied visas by U.S. immigration authorities.<ref></ref> However, after Bill Clinton was elected U.S. president, he finally lifted the travel ban and claimed that García Márquez's ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' was his favorite novel.<ref name=bell-villadaxxii/>

=== ''Autumn of the Patriarch'' ===

García Márquez was inspired to write a dictator novel when he witnessed the flight of Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He shares, "it was the first time we had seen a dictator fall in Latin America."<ref></ref>  García Márquez began writing ''Autumn of the Patriarch'' (''El otoño del patriarca'') in 1968 and said it was finished in 1971; however, he continued to embellish the dictator novel until 1975 when it was published in Spain.<ref></ref> According to García Márquez, the novel is a "poem on the solitude of power"<ref></ref> as it follows the life of an eternal dictator known as the General. The novel is developed through a series of anecdotes related to the life of the General, which do not appear in chronological order.<ref name=williams112></ref> Although the exact location of the story is not pin-pointed in the novel, the imaginary country is situated somewhere in the Caribbean.<ref name=Williams111></ref> 

García Márquez gave his own explanation of the plot:<blockquote>
My intention was always to make a synthesis of all the Latin American dictators, but especially those from the Caribbean. Nevertheless, the personality of Juan Vicente Gomez [of Venezuela] was so strong, in addition to the fact that he exercised a special fascination over me, that undoubtedly the Patriarch has much more of him than anyone else.<ref name=Williams111/>
</blockquote>

=== Pledge ===

After ''Autumn of the Patriarch'' was published the Garcia Marquez family moved from Barcelona to Mexico City.<ref name=bell-villadaxxi/> and García Márquez pledged not to publish again until the Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet was deposed. However, he ultimately published ''Chronicle of a Death Foretold'' while Pinochet was still in power as he "could not remain silent in the face of injustice and repression."<ref name="Maurya58"></ref>

=== ''Chronicle of a Death Foretold'' ===

''Chronicle of a Death Foretold'' (''Crónica de una muerte anunciada'') recreates a murder that took place in Sucre, Colombia in 1951. The character named Santiago Nasar is based on a good friend from García Márquez's childhood, Cayetano Gentile Chimento.<ref name="pelayo111"></ref> Pelayo classifies this novel as a combination of journalism, realism and detective story.<ref></ref>

The plot of the novel revolves around Santiago Nasar's murder. The narrator acts as a detective, uncovering the events of the murder second by second.<ref name="pelayo112"></ref> Literary critic Ruben Pelayo notes that the story "unfolds in an inverted fashion. Instead of moving forward... the plot moves backwards."<ref></ref> In the first chapter, the narrator tells the reader exactly who killed Santiago Nasar and the rest of the book is left to unfold why.

''Chronicle of a Death Foretold'' was published in 1981, just one year before García Márquez was winner of 1982's Nobel Prize in Literature.<ref name="pelayo111"/> The novel was also adapted into a film by Spanish director Francesco Rossi in 1987.<ref name="pelayo112"/>

=== ''Love in the Time of Cholera'' ===

''Love in the Time of Cholera'' (''El amor en los tiempos del cólera'') was first published in 1985. It is considered a nontraditional love story as "lovers find love in their 'golden years'- in their seventies, when death is all around them".<ref></ref>

''Love in the Time of Cholera'' is based on the stories of two couples. The young love of Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza is based on the love affair of García Márquez's parents.<ref name=bell-villada156></ref> However, as García Márquez explains in an interview: “The only difference is [my parents] married. And as soon as they were married, they were no longer interesting as literary figures.”<ref name=bell-villada156/> The love of old people is based on a newspaper story about the death of two Americans, who were almost 80 years old, who met every year in Acapulco. They were out in a boat one day and were murdered by the boatman with his oars. García Márquez notes, “Through their death, the story of their secret romance became known. I was fascinated by them. They were each married to other people.”<ref></ref>

=== Illness ===
In 1999, García Márquez was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer.<ref name=bell-villadaxxii></ref> Chemotherapy provided by a hospital in Los Angeles proved to be successful, and the illness went into remission.<ref name=bell-villadaxxii/><ref name="Forero"></ref> This event prompted García Márquez to begin writing his memoirs: "I reduced relations with my friends to a minimum, disconnected the telephone, canceled the trips and all sorts of current and future plans", he told ''El Tiempo'', the Colombian newspaper, "...and locked myself in to write every day without interruption."<ref name="Forero"/> In 2002, three years later, he published ''Living to Tell the Tale'' (''Vivir para Contarla''), the first volume in a trilogy of memoirs.<ref name="Forero"/>

In 2000, his impending death was incorrectly reported by Peruvian daily newspaper ''La República''. The next day other newspapers republished his alleged farewell poem, "La Marioneta" but shortly afterwards García Márquez denied being the author of the poem, which was determined to be the work of a Mexican ventriloquist.<ref></ref><ref> </ref>

=== Recent works ===

In 2002, García Márquez published the memoir ''Vivir para contarla'', the first of a projected three-volume autobiography. Edith Grossman's English translation, ''Living to Tell the Tale'', was published in November 2003.<ref></ref> As of March 2008 his most recent novel is ''Memories of My Melancholy Whores'' (''Memoria de mis putas tristes''), a love story that follows the romance of a 90-year old man and a pubescent concubine, that was published in October 2004.  This book caused controversy in Iran, where it was banned after the initial 5,000 copies were printed and sold.<ref></ref><ref>
</ref>

In May 2008, despite the fact that García Márquez had earlier declared that he "had finished with writing", it was announced that the author was now finishing a new novel, "a novel of love" that had yet to be given a title, to be published by the end of the year.<ref></ref>