“I was absolutely convinced that I wouldn't win the Nobel Prize. My impression was that the Nobel Prize in Literature was given to people more or less affiliated with, let's say, socialist ideas, and that was not my case.”

Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist, and politician

Mario Vargas Llosa was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist, and politician. Born in 1936, he became one of the major Latin American writers of his generation, and his work reached a wide international audience. He has 73 quotes on the site. He was especially noted for novels and essays that examine power, conflict, and the fate of the individual under pressure. In 2010, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature for writing about structures of power and for his vivid portrayals of resistance, revolt, and defeat.