Stories

Gabriel García Márquez was born on March 6, 1927 in the Colombian town of Aracataca (Magdalena Department). In childhood he was raised by his maternal grandmother and grandfather. Those relatives introduced the future writer to popular legends and language features that later became an important element of his work.

In 1940, at the age of 12, Gabriel received a scholarship and began studying at a Jesuit college in the town of Zipaquirá, 30 km north of Bogotá. In 1946, on his parents’ insistence, he entered the National University of Bogotá to study law. Around then he met his future wife, Mercedes Barcha Pardo.

Interrupting his studies early in 1950, he decided to devote himself to journalism and literature. He was especially influenced by writers such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

Starting in 1954, Márquez worked for the newspaper “El Espectador,” publishing small articles and reviews of films. As a correspondent he was sent to Italy, Poland, France, Venezuela, and the United States. In 1959, in New York, his son was born.

Alongside that, Márquez continued writing—stories and screenplays. In 1961 his novella “No One Writes to the Colonel” (Spanish: El coronel no tiene quien lo escriba) was published, and in 1966 his novel “In Evil Hour” (La mala hora, 1966). Worldwide fame came with the novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Cien años de soledad, 1967). In 2002, the first book of the author’s planned biographical trilogy was published; in the Spanish-speaking world it became a bestseller.

The collection includes the following stories:
1. A Good Scout of a Conjurer, Seller of Miracles
2. Eve Inside Her Cat
3. The Eyes of a Blue Dog
4. Artificial Roses
5. Isabel’s Monologue, Watching the Rain in Macondo
6. An Unforgettable Day in the Life of Baltasar
7. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
8. Siesta on Tuesday
9. There Are No Thieves in Our Town