Mario Vargas Llosa Passes Away: 2010 Nobel Prize Winner and Politician Dies at 89

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature and politician passed away at the age of 89 on Sunday, April 14 in Peru's capital Lima, his son Alvaro Vargas Llosa said in a social media post on X. "It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas LLosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family,” Alvaro wrote. 

“His departure will sadden his relatives, his friends and his readers around the world, but we hope 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 outlive him,” he wrote further.

It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas LLosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family.@morganavllpic.twitter.com/c6HgEfyaIe

— Álvaro Vargas Llosa (@AlvaroVargasLl) April 14, 2025

He added, “We will proceed in the coming hours and days in accordance with his instructions. No public ceremony will take place. 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. As was his will, his remains will be cremated.”

Also Read | Pakistan: Baloch human rights body holds protests to denounce violence, unlawful detention of leaders.

Llosa was born in Peru's Arequipa into a middle-class family. He grew up with his mother after his parents divorced at a very young age. His grandfather used to work as a consular officer. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 for his powerful exploration of power, resistance, and human struggle. The Swedish Academy praised his sharp depictions of how individuals confront authority, as seen in novels like The Time of the Hero, Conversation in the Cathedral, and The War of the End of the World. 

Llosa returned to live in his apartment in Lima’s bohemian Barranco district, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, in 2022. In February 2023, he became the first Spanish-language author to be inducted into the French Academy.