Mexican writer Fernando del Paso dies

Distinguished Mexican writer Fernando del Paso died here Wednesday, his family told EFE. He was 83.

“Yes, sadly I confirm the death of my father at 9:05 am today, Wednesday, Nov. 14,” daughter Paulina del Paso said.

The poet, narrator and diplomat died in a Guadalajara hospital.

Del Paso was honored in 2015 with Spain’s Cervantes Prize, regarded as the Spanish-speaking world’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The author had been in delicate health after suffering several strokes.

His most emblematic novel was “Noticias del imperio” (1986, translated as “News from the Empire,” 2009), a monumental work that managed to masterfully recreate the 1864-1867 Mexican empire headed by Emperor Maximilian and his wife Carlota.

He was also the author of essays and plays such as “La muerte se va a Granada” (1998), inspired by the violent death of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

Del Paso had been scheduled to participate in the 32nd edition of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, which starts on Nov. 24.

“The whole Mexican literary universe is mourning (...) I am moved by this very great loss that has hit me very directly,” fair director Marisol Schulz wrote Wednesday on Twitter.