According to Google NGram, Mexican poet Octavio Paz was the most-mentioned author in Spanish publications in the 20th century. He won almost every prestigious prize an author could win: the Nobel, the Neustadt, the Miguel de Cervantes, and the Jerusalem.

From a young age, Paz showed an interest in books, immersing himself in his grandfather's library. Later in life, he traveled the world as a diplomat, living through countless experiences and cultures that helped shape his literary genius.

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was a source of inspiration for Paz and, interestingly, just like Paz, a diplomat and later a senator. As a diplomat in Spain, Neruda organized a refugee route to Chile during the Spanish Civil War, saving 2,000 lives.

Although every name on our chart deserves its own story, we'll lastly tell you about Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who is known as the pioneer of the "magical realism" genre. His most famous novel, "Cien Años de Soledad," exemplifies the genre perfectly — a seemingly realistic story of a family with inexplicable or magical events occurring spontaneously in the fictional town of Macondo. The book is considered one of the most influential books of all time, and 50M+ copies have been sold in 46 languages. Like Neruda and Paz, Marquez also won a Nobel Prize.

As far as the writers on our chart go, Isabel Allende and Mario Vargas Llosa are the only surviving ones today. These figures deserve to be remembered by the younger generation of Latin Americans as treasures in the field of literature.

Source: Google NGram
Tools: Affinity Designer

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