Thursday, October 7, 2010

Nobel Peace Price for Latin America


Peruvian Mario Vargas has won the Nobel Peace Prize in literature. He's the first Latino to be awarded the prize since Mexican author Octavio Paz in 1990. According to CNN.COM, "The author said the Swedish academy called him at 5:30 a.m. to inform him he had won and an announcement would be made in 14 minutes. The announcement was made as scheduled, he said, and the phone started ringing non-stop."

My mom said books were hard to come by back in the day (in South America) so these prizes are a big step and accomplishment for Central/South America. Vargas' novels include comedies, murder mysteries, historical novels, and political thrillers. Several, such as Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973/1978) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977/1982), have been adapted as feature films.

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