Lima, April 14, 2025 — The Europe Today: Renowned Peruvian author and Nobel Prize-winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa passed away peacefully on Sunday at the age of 89, his family announced. His death marks the end of an illustrious chapter in Latin America’s golden age of literature.
“It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas Llosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,” wrote his eldest son, Álvaro Vargas Llosa, in a message on X, co-signed by his siblings Gonzalo and Morgana Vargas Llosa. The announcement has since been widely reported by international media.
Born into a middle-class family in Peru, Vargas Llosa rose to global prominence as one of the towering figures of the Latin American literary “boom” of the 1960s and 1970s. His groundbreaking work placed him alongside literary giants such as Colombia’s Gabriel García Márquez and Argentina’s Julio Cortázar. Over a career spanning more than six decades, he produced a prolific body of work characterized by political depth, narrative innovation, and a fearless engagement with the cultural and social issues of his time.
Speculation about his declining health had circulated in recent months, as the writer had largely withdrawn from public life. In October, his son Álvaro acknowledged that his father was “on the verge of turning 90, an age when you have to reduce the intensity of your activities a little.”
In their statement, the family expressed both grief and gratitude. “The writer’s passing will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world,” they said. “But we hope that they will find comfort, as we do, in the fact that he enjoyed a long, adventurous and fruitful life, and leaves behind him a body of work that will outlive him.”
In accordance with Vargas Llosa’s final wishes, no public ceremonies will be held. “Our mother, our children and ourselves trust that we will have the space and privacy to bid him farewell in the company of family members and close friends,” the siblings stated, adding that his body would be cremated.
Mario Vargas Llosa leaves behind a literary legacy that spans continents and generations. His novels, essays, and political commentary earned him both critical acclaim and widespread readership, culminating in the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat.”
He is survived by his three children and a global community of readers who continue to be inspired by his work.
