Gabriel García Márquez Net Worth

What was Gabriel García Márquez's Net Worth?

Gabriel García Márquez was a Colombian writer who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of his death. Gabriel García Márquez was best known for his novels "One Hundred Years of Solitude," "Chronicle of a Death Foretold," and "Love in the Time of Cholera." Regarded as one of the most significant authors of the 20th century, he helped popularize the literary style of magic realism and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. García Márquez also wrote several non-fiction works, as well as screenplays for films.

Early Life and Education

Gabriel García Márquez was born on March 6, 1927 in Aracataca, Colombia to Luisa and Gabriel. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to nearby Barranquilla, and he was left under the guardianship of his maternal grandparents Doña and Nicolás. His grandparents influenced him strongly with their storytelling, especially his grandmother, who told stories filled with supernatural elements. For his formal education, García Márquez went to school in Barranquilla before attending a Jesuit college to study law. After graduating in 1947, he attended the National University of Colombia, where he continued studying law. His time there was short-lived, however, as the university closed indefinitely following the El Bogotazo riots in April of 1948. García Márquez subsequently transferred to the University of Cartagena. In 1950, he dropped his legal studies to become a journalist.

Journalism

García Márquez had his first published work in 1947, in the newspaper El Espectador. The following year, he began working as a reporter for the newly founded paper El Universal. In 1950, García Márquez moved back to Barranquilla and became a columnist and reporter for El Heraldo. During this time, he was an active member of the Barranquilla Group, an association of writers, journalists, and philosophers. Later, in the mid-'50s, García Márquez returned to Bogotá and wrote regularly for El Espectador. Toward the end of the decade, he wrote for magazines in Caracas, Venezuela.

Novels and Novellas

García Márquez published his first novella, "Leaf Storm," in 1955. That was followed by "No One Writes to the Colonel" in 1958. García Márquez's first novel, "In Evil Hour," came out in 1962. He went on to have his commercial breakthrough in 1967 with "One Hundred Years of Solitude," a work of magic realism focusing on the multigenerational story of the Buendía family. Widely regarded as García Márquez's greatest work, the novel has been translated into over 45 languages and has sold over 50 million copies. Following "One Hundred Years of Solitude," García Márquez wrote "The Autumn of the Patriarch," a dictator novel published in 1975. Although he pledged to not publish again until Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was deposed, García Márquez eventually relented and published his novella "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" in 1981. Inspired by a real-life murder in Sucre, Colombia in 1951, the book combines journalism and realism with a pulpy, nonlinear detective story.

In 1985, García Márquez published one of his most famous works, "Love in the Time of Cholera." An unconventional love story about a couple finding love late in life amid death and decay, it was highly acclaimed by critics. García Márquez's next novel, "The General in His Labyrinth," was published in 1989. Another dictator novel from the author, it offers a fictionalized account of the final seven months in the life of South American liberator Simón Bolívar. Next, in 1994, García Márquez published "Of Love and Other Demons," about a 12-year-old girl in 18th-century Colombia who is sent to a convent to be exorcised after she's bitten by a rabid dog and thought to be possessed. He didn't have another published novel or novella until 2004, with the release of "Memories of My Melancholy Whores." Two decades later, his novel "Until August" was published posthumously, against the wishes in his will.

Non-fiction Books

García Márquez's first non-fiction book, "The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor," was published in 1970. Originally published in the 1950s as 14 separate installments in the paper El Espectador, it caused controversy for going against the official record of the events it chronicles. García Márquez's next work of non-fiction was the 1982 book "The Fragrance of Guava," based on a long conversation with his friend Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza about García Márquez's life. In 1986, he published "Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín," about the covert visit of the titular exiled Chilean filmmaker to his home country. García Márquez's subsequent non-fiction books included "News of a Kidnapping" (1997), "A Country for Children" (1998), and the memoir "Living to Tell the Tale" (2002).

Screenplays

García Márquez wrote or contributed to the screenplays of many films, including "Juego peligroso" (1967), "El año de la peste" (1979), "Eréndira" (1983), "Tiempo de morir" (1985), and "Edipo alcalde" (1996).

Personal Life and Death

García Márquez was married to Mercedes Barcha from 1958 until his passing. The two first met when they were kids. In 1961, García Márquez and Barcha moved to Mexico City, where they would spend the rest of their lives. They had two children together: Rodrigo, who became a television and film director and screenwriter, and Gonzalo, who became a graphic designer. After García Márquez's death, it was revealed that he had had a daughter, Indira, from an extramarital affair with Mexican writer and producer Susana Cato in the early 1990s.

In 1999, García Márquez was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, and underwent successful treatment in Los Angeles. Later, in 2012, it was announced that he was suffering from dementia. García Márquez was hospitalized in Mexico in 2014 with lung and urinary tract infections. Not long after that, he passed away, at the age of 87. Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos responded by calling García Márquez the "greatest Colombian of all time." The writer's body was cremated at a private family ceremony in Mexico City.

Legacy

García Márquez is widely regarded as one of the most important writers of the 20th century, and one of the greatest Spanish-language writers in history. Central to the Latin American Boom in literature in the 1960s and '70s, he helped popularize the literary style of magic realism while creating new awareness of the sociopolitical realities of Latin America. In 1982, García Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his writing.