Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (born January 1, 1932) is a Colombian journalist, writer, and diplomat. Mendoza was named in honour to the Roman authors

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

and

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...

Career

Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza born in

Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá department an ...

, Boyacá in 1932, son of the lawyer and politic Plinio Mendoza Neira, who was witness to the murder of

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala (23 January 1903 – 9 April 1948) was a left-wing Colombian politician and charismatic leader of the Liberal Party. He served as the mayor of Bogotá from 1936–37, the national Education Minister from 1940 ...

. He studied political science at

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Mendoza had a close friendship with

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

. They spent time in Europe during the early 60s. Mendoza published a

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...

regarding the life and anecdotes of García Márquez and their circle of friends, poets, and writers during those years in Europe. The book was entitled "The Fragrance of the Guava". Mendoza served as First Secretary of the Colombian Embassy in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, writing newspaper articles for several international publications at the same time. After returning to Colombia in 1959, he became a full-time writer and journalist.

Works

Short stories

* The Deserter. Short Stories. 1974 * The day that we buried the weapons. 2014

Novels

* Vanishing years. 1979 * Five days at the island. 1997 * Between two waters. 2010

Non-fiction

* The flame and the ice. 1984 * People, places: selection of articles written in Europe and America. 1986 * Fire zones: the guerrilla in Colombia, reportage and analysis. * Our painters in Paris. 1989 * The challenges of the power: open letter to former Colombian presidents. 1991 * The sun continues rising. 1994 * Those times with Gabo, 2000, extension of one of the chapters of 1984 * Wind time: portraits, mementos, 2002 * An unknown García Márquez, 2009 * Many things to tell, 2012 * Gabo: letters and mementos, 2013, an extension of the 2000 book * The country of my father, 2013

As co-author

The Fragrance of Guava ''The Fragrance of Guava'' is a book based on the long conversations between Gabriel García Márquez and his close friend Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza. Published in 1982, the book describes the life of García Márquez, from his early childhood to his ...

. 1982 with

Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot ''Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot'' (Spanish: ''Manual del perfecto idiota latinoamericano'') is an essay by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Álvaro Vargas Llosa published in 1996. The authors analyze Latin Americ ...

. 1996. With

Carlos Alberto Montaner Carlos Alberto Montaner (born April 3, 1943) is an exiled Cuban author and journalist known for his criticism of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government. He has been published widely in Latin American newspapers, and published fiction and non-fic ...

and

Álvaro Vargas Llosa Álvaro Vargas Llosa (born 18 March 1966) is a Peruvian-Spanish writer and political commentator and public speaker on international affairs. He is also the writer and presenter of a documentary series for National Geographic Channel on contempo ...

* Manufacturers of misery: politicians, priests, soldiers, businessmen, unions ..., 1998, with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa * The Return of the Idiot, 2007, with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa * Latest news of the new Spanish American Idiot, 2014, with Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa

References

1932 births Living people Colombian male writers Colombian journalists Male journalists Colombian diplomats {{Colombia-diplomat-stub