Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡaˈβɾjel ɣaɾˈsi.a ˈmaɾkes/ listen (information)), March 6, 1927 – April 17, 2014), known simply as Gabriel García Márquez or Gabriel García Márquez, was a Colombian novelist, journalist, publisher, and political activist. He spent most of his life in Mexico and Europe. Controversy surrounds his date of birth, whether 1927 or 1928, but the author himself gave 1927 as his date of birth in his 2002 book, *Living to Tell the Tale*. García Márquez was known to his family and friends as Gabito, while Eduardo Zalamea Borda, assistant editor of El Espectador, called him Gabo, dropping the last syllable. García Márquez is one of the most famous writers of uncanny realism, and his work One Hundred Years of Solitude is considered the most representative of this literary genre. Following the novel’s huge success, the term was popularized in literary works beginning in the 1970s. In 2007, the Royal Spanish Academy and the Association of Spanish Language Academies published a commemorative popular edition of the novel, considering it one of the great Spanish-language classics of all time. The text was personally reviewed and revised by Gabriel García Márquez. García Márquez was distinguished by his brilliant writing style and his talent for addressing political ideas. His friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro generated much controversy in the literary and political worlds. Although García Márquez had residences in Paris, Bogotá, and Cartagena de Indias, he spent most of his life in his home in Mexico, where he had settled since the 1960s.