Gabriel José García Márquez was born on March 6th, 1928, in a small town called Aracataca, in Colombia. He was raised by his maternal grandparents, but he knew his real parents. He was one of sixteen children. His grandfather was Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejia. He was a veteran of the War of a Thousand Days, and a Colonel of the Civil War. Gabriel Márquez often used the lessons his grandfather …showed first 75 words of 847 total…

…showed last 75 words of 847 total…sold over 8000 copies in a week and a half a million copies in tree years. The book was translated in more than two dozen languages, and won four international prizes. He also won the Chianchiano Prize, named the best Foreign Book in France in 1969, and was chosen one of the best 12 books in the United States in 1970. In 1981, he won the French Legion of Honor Metal, and in 1982, he won the Nobel Prize for literature.