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FCG International Literature Award 2002: Mario Vargas Llosa

The jury of the FCGInternational Literature Award at a meeting in Valladolid and composed of thefollowing distinguished personalities: Mrs. Paz Ramos, Mr. Juancho ArmasMarcelo, Mr. Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente, Mr. César Hernández Alonso, Mr.Javier Blasco Pascual, with Mrs. Paz Ramos acting as chairwoman and Mr. CésarHernández Alonso as secretary, decided by majority vote to award the FCGinternational literature prize to MARIO VARGAS LLOSA, for his narrative andprose work that have given Spanish literature of the 20th century a universal dimension.

Mario Vargas Llosa

 

He was born in Arequipa [Peru] on the 20th of March 1936to his first marriage was to Julia Urquidi in 1955 and he got divorced in 1964.

He married Patricia Llosa Urquidi in 1965.

Children: Alvaro (Lima, 1966), Gonzalo (Lima, 1967),Morgana (Barcelona, 1974).

 

Studies of:

 

1941-1944        Colegio La Salle, Cochabamba,Bolivia

From first class to fourth class of primary school

1945                  Colegio Salesiano, Piura, Perú

Fifth class of primary school.

1946-1949        Colegio La Salle, Lima, Perú

Sixth class of primary school and first andsecond year of secondary school

1950-1951        Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado,Lima, Perú

Third and fourth years of secondary school.

1952                 Colegio National San Miguel, Piura, Perú

fifth year of secondary school.

1953-1958           Universidad National Mayor de San Marcos, Lima,Perú.

Literature degree.

1959                  Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

Ph.D. (Cum laude) in 1971

 

 

Work and academic activity:

 

1952                  Column writer for local newspapers in Piura, Perú.

1955                     Journalist for the Turismo and Cultura Peruana magazines and forthe Sunday supplement of El Comercio, head of news on RadioPanamericana, Lima, Peru.

1959             Spanish teacher the Berlitz school, journalist for the France-Presse agency andfor French radio and television, Paris, France.

1965                He formed part of the jury for the House of America awards, La Habana Cuba.

1967                    He taught at Queen Mary's College, London University.

Translator for UNESCO in Greece, with Julio Cortázar.

1968               Guest lecturer at Washington State University, United States, during the autumnsemester.

1969                He taught at Kings College, London University and was Guest lecturer at the Universityof Puerto Rico.

1975                   He became a member all of the Peruvian Academy of Spanish.  A user Guestlecturer in at the Edward Larocque of Tinker chair in Columbia University, theUnited States, during the autumn semester.  He was the co-director, alongwith José Maria Gutiérrez, of the cinema version of Pantaleón y lasvisitadoras.

1976             President of the INTERNATIONAL PEN CLUB.

Took up the Simón Bolívar chair at the University ofCambridge, England

1980             Resident writer at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for scholars,Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, the United States

Director of the La torre de Babeltelevision program,  Lima, Peru.

1983                Following a request from the president of the Republic he became a member ofthe investigating commission of the events at Uchuraccay, Lima, Peru

1986                  He was invited by the Scottish arts Council to give the lecturer as the NeilGunn international fellow.

1988              He gave a seminar about his work as Guest lecturer at Syracuse University

He set up the Freedom movement and became a member of theDemocratic Front (FREDEMO), Lima, Peru.

1989                   Presidential candidate for the 1990 Peruvian elections

1991                 Given literature course at the Edna Gene and the Jordan Davidson chair atFlorida international University, Miami, the United States

1991-1992         Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, Germany.

1992                  Guest lecturer at the Robert Kennedy chair, Harvard University, the UnitedStates,  during the autumn semester

1994             Guest lecturer at Georgetown University.  He participated in the"Distinguished Writer in Residence" programme,  Washington DC

1995                  President of the jury of the Iber-American film Festival in Huelva, Spain.

1997-1998         Fellow of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Berlin, Germany.

1998                  Member of the Instituto Cervantes patronage.

Member of the juryand for the ECHO television and radio awards

Member of the Juryfor the Miguel de Cervantes Award.

He gave a seminar on "Novels andPolitics" in the summer courses of the Menéndez Pelayo internationalUniversity, Santander, Spain.

Guest lecturer at Georgetown University,Washington DC, for the autumn semester.

Member of the Jury for Miguel de Cervantes award, 1999

2001                Summer courses at the Menéndez Pelayo International University, Santander,Spain.  Gave a seminar on " History and Fiction: Flora Tristan andPaul Gaugain”

 

 

Works

 

1952                 La huída del Inca, play

1957                  El Desafio, short story

1959                  Los jefes, short story compilation

1963                  La ciudad y los perros, novel

1966                  La casa verde, novel

1967               Los cachorros, short story

1969                  Conversación en La Catedral, short story

"Carta debatalla por Tirant lo Blanc", prologue to the novel by JoanotMartorell.

1971                Historia secreta de una novela

García Márquez: historia de un deicidio,literary prose.

1973                  Pantaleón y las visitadoras, novel

1975                 La orgía perpetua: Flaubert y Madame Bovary, literary prose.

1977                    La tía Julia y el escribidor, novel

1981               La señorita de Tacna, play

La guerra del fin del mundo, novel

Entre Sartre y Camus, prose.

1983                  Kathie y el hipopótamo, play

Contra viento y marea, political and literaryprose.

1984                  Historia de Mayta, novel

"La suntuosa abundancia", and essayabout Fernando Botero.

1986                 Contra viento y marea, volumes I (1962-1972) and II(1972-1983).

La Chunga, play

¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero?, detective novel

1987                 El hablador, novel

1988                  Elogio de la madrastra, novel

1989                 Translation from the French and prologue to the story by Arthur Rimbaud, calledUn corazón bajo la sotana.

1990                  Contra viento y marea, volume III (1983-1990)

La verdad de las mentiras, literary prose

(Tune in tomorrow is released, the filmbased on La tía Julia y el escribidor)

1991                  A writer's reality, collection of lectures given at the University ofSyracusa.

1992                 "Un hombre triste y feroz", and essay about George Grosz

1993               El pez en el agua, memoirs

El loco de los balcones, play

Lituma en los Andes, novel

1994                Desafíos a la libertad, essays about the culture of Freedom.

Ojos bonitos, cuadros feos, a play written forBBC radio.

1996             La utopía arcaica, José María Arguedas y las ficciones del indigenes,prose Making Waves, a prose selection from Contra viento y marea(published only in English)

1997                  Los cuadernos de don Rigoberto, novel; Cartas a un joven novelista,literary prose

2000                 La fiesta del Chivo, novel

Nationalismus als neue Bedrohung, selection of politicalessays (published only in German)

El lenguaje de la pasión, a selection of articles fromthe series “Piedra de Toque”, published in El País newspaper, Madrid,and in a series of group publications, between 1992 and 2000.

2001               Bases para una interpretación de Rubén Darío, published by theUniversidad National Mayor of San Marcos.  This was his graduation thesisfrom that University in 1958

 

 

His work has been translated into the followinglanguages: French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, English, German, Dutch,Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgaria, Czech, Russian, Lithuanian, Estonian,Slovakian, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Croatian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish,Icelandic, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, andMalaysian.

He collaborates with El País newspaper, Madrid,Spain, (Piedra de Toque series) and with the cultural magazine called LetrasLibres, Mexico city, Mexico, which is published monthly (Extemporáneosseries).

 

 

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

 

1952                  Second Prize in the III School Theatre Contest of the Public EducationMinistry, for his play entitled La huída del Inca.

Revue Française Award for his short story entitled Eldesafío.

1959                  Leopoldo Alas Award (Spain) for his short story collection, Los jefes.

1963                 Biblioteca Breve Award, by Seix Barral, the Spanish Critics’ Award andhe came second in the Prix Formentor, for La ciudad y los perros.

1966               Spanish Critics’ Award for his novel La casa verde.

1967                  National Novel Award (Peru), for La casa verde and the RómuloGallegos International Literature Award (Venezuela).

1976                 He was Awarded the Title of Honorary Member of the Hebrew University ofJerusalem

1977                 He was awarded the Silver Medal and the Diploma of Honour of the ArequipaProvincial Council (Peru)

Member of the Peruvian Academy of Spanish(Incorporation Ceremony)

1977 Human Rights Award from the SouthAmerican  Jewish Association.

1979                 He received the Ramón Godó Lallana Journalism Award, from  LaVanguardia Newspaper of Barcelona.

1981                  Critics’ Award (Argentina).

He was awarded the Golden Medal of Congreso by theCongress of the Republic of Peru, for his literary career.

1982                 Illa Award of the Italian-Latin Americanan Institute of Rome for Latía Julia y el escribidor.

He received the Pablo Iglesias Literature Awardfrom the Chamartín Socialist Group for La guerra del fin del mundo.

1985             Ritz Paris Hemingway Award (France) for La guerra del fin del mundo.

Legion of Honour Award, awarded by the FrenchGovernment.

Prince of Asturias Literature Award (Spain).

Honorary Fellow of the Modern LanguageAssociation of America (USA).

Honorary Member of the American Academy andInstitute of Arts and Letters (USA).

Oficial Insignia of the Order of Arts andLetters, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture.

1988                Golden Medal of the Pan American Society (USA).

The Freedom Award from the Max Schmidheiny Foundation(Switzerland).

1989                 The Scanno Award, from Rizzoli Libri (Italy), for his  novel Elhablador.

1990                  Castiglione de Sicilia Award (Italy).

Doctor Honoris Causa from Florida InternationalUniversity in Miami.

Legion of Freedom, from the Ludwig von MisesCultural Institute (Mexico).

1991                  Doctor in Humane Letters from Connecticut College (USA).

T.S. Eliot Award from the Ingersoll Foundationof The Rockford Institute (USA) for creative writing.

1992                     Doctor Honoris Causa from the Boston University (USA).

Doctor Honoris Causa from the University ofGenoa (Italy).

INTAR 1992 Golden Palm Award from INTAR Hispanic AmericanArts Centre of New York, (USA).

1993                Doctor Honoris Causa from Dowling College (USA).

Doctor HonorisCausa from Francisco Marroquín University (Guatemala).

Planeta Award(Spain), for Lituma en los Andes.

SpanishCitizenship was awarded by the Government of Spain.

Order of Arts andLetters Title, with the grade of Commander, awarded by the  FrenchGovernment.

1994                  Member of the Royal Spanish Academy.

Doctor HonorisCausa from Georgetown  University (USA).

Doctor HonorisCausa from Yale University (USA).

Doctor HonorisCausa from Rennes University II    (France).

Miguel deCervantes Award from the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Archbishop Juan deSan Clemente Literary Award inSantiago de Compostela, for Lituma en los Andes.

1995                  Jerusalem Award, Israel.

International Literary Award, Chianti RuffinoAntico Fattore, (Florence, Italy),  for Lituma en los Andes.

Doctor Honoris Causa from the University ofMurcia (Spain).

Doctor Honoris Causa from the University ofValladolid (Spain)

Guest of Honour ofthe Province of Santa Fe (Argentina).

1996                 Incorporation Ceremony to the Royal Spanish Academy.

Peace Prize,  German Booksellers’ Association, Frankfurt BookFair.

1997                Mariano de Cavia Award, from ABC Newspaper, (Spain), for hisarticle entitled "Los inmigrantes" published in El País inAugust 1996.

IllustriousVisitor to the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Doctor HonorisCausa from the University of Lima (Peru)

Golden Pen Award, from the Madrid Writing Club (Spain)

Doctor HonorisCausa from the National University of San Agustín in Arequipa (Peru)

Medal and Diploma of Honour from the Catholic Universityof Santa María in Arequipa (Peru)

1998                  Critics’ Circle National Award, in the category of "Critic" for MakingWaves (USA).

Doctor HonorisCausa from Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva (Israel).

Guest of Honour ofteh city of Cordoba (Argentina).

Doctor HonorisCausa from University College London (Great Britain).

Honorary Citizenof the city of Asuncion, Paraguay.

1999                Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award, 1999 for his article "Nuevasinquisiciones" published in El País, on 8 November 1998.

XIII International Menéndez Pelayo Award for therevindication of fantasy and for the ethical aspect f his work

Doctor Honoris Causa from Harvard University(the United States).

Medal of the University of California, LosAngeles (UCLA), (the United States).

Jorge Isaacs Award 1999 from the Cali International Art Festival, Colombia.

2000               Diploma of Honour from the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, (Peru) in homage toand recognition of his Alma Mater and by national consensus as "Prohombredel Siglo XX" [Man of the XX Century].

"Cultural Heritage of Humanity" Medalof Arequipa, awarded by the Arequipa Municipality in recognition of hisliterary career and his promotion and defence democracy and human rights.

2001               Recognition Plate and homage ceremony from the Lima Collage of Lawyers, inrecognition if his permanent defence of freedom and law.

Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum(Davos, Switzerland) in recognition of his artistic achievements and hisoutstanding contribution to understanding between peoples.

Honorary Professor of the Peruvian University ofApplied Science (UPC), Lima (Peru), in recognition of his outstanding academia,professional and cultural trajectory in arts, letters and ideas in the field ofhumanities.

Doctor Honoris Causa from the UniversidadNational Mayor de San Marcos,  Lima (Peru) in recognition not only of hisnotable literary career but also of his way of continuously interpreting thelife and history o Peru.  This distinction is of special significance asit comes from his Alma Mater.

The Americas Award 2000-2001, given by theAmericas Foundation, New York (USA), for his contribution to the cultural andpolitical life in the Americas, by promoting free and democratic societiesbased on justice and respect for all citizens.

He inaugurated the Chair of Iber-AmericanLiterature and Culture in the Spanish and Portuguese Department of GeorgetownUniversity, Washington DC., (USA)

I Book of the Year Award from the Madrid Booksellers’ Association for La fiesta del Chivo.

IV Readers’ Award from the Crisol Bookshop Chainfor his novel La fiesta del Chivo.

Son Latinos Festival Award, IV Edition, Tenerife, the Canary Islands, for hislife’s career.

Doctor Honoris Causa from the Roma Tor VergataUniversity (Italy).

Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Pau (France)

DECORATION of the Order of “THE SUN OF PERU”, with theGrade of “Great Diamond Cross”, the highest distinction awarded by the State ofPeru, in recognition of his ethical and civil principles as well as hiscontribution to the re-establishment of a free democratic society in thecountry.

Recognition from the Government of Israel forhis selfless work and dedication and his tireless effort for decades to createties of friendship between the peoples of Peru and Israel.

2002                   Doctor Honoris Causa from the National San Antonio Abad del Cusco University(Peru).

Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of FrenchPolynesia.

Caonabo de Oro Award, of the Dominican Association of Journalists and Writers(Dominican Republic)

Golden Medal of the city of Genoa, (Italy), awarded bythe Mayor of the city.

Nabokov Award from the PEN American Centre (USA) for his literary trajectory and thewhole of his work