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Gabriel García Márquez:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: García Márquez, Gabriel, 1927-2014
Title: Gabriel García Márquez Papers
Dates: 1930s-2014 (bulk 1966-2006)
Extent: 80 document boxes, 15 oversize boxes (osb) (33.18 linear feet), 3 oversize folders (osf), 67 computer disks
Abstract: The papers of Colombian-born Nobel Prize-winning author, journalist, screenwriter, and key figure in Latin American history and politics, Gabriel García Márquez, consist of manuscript drafts of published and unpublished works, research material, photograph albums, scrapbooks, correspondence, clippings, notebooks, screenplays, printed material, ephemera, and electronic files.
Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-05353
Language: Predominately Spanish but also includes material in English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish
Access: Open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using archival materials.
Use Policies: Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University of Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.
Restrictions on Use: Certain restrictions apply to the use of electronic files. Researchers must agree to the Materials Use Policy for Electronic Files before accessing them. Original computer disks and forensic disk images are restricted. Copying electronic files, including screenshots and printouts, is not permitted. To request access to electronic files, please email reference@hrc.utexas.edu. Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom Center's Open Access and Use Policies.


Administrative Information


Acquisition: Purchases, 2014-2024 (14-11-006-P, 15-05-028-P, 16-01-014-P, 2022-10-002-P, 2024.0028)
Processed by: Daniela Lozano, 2016; Paloma Graciani Picardo, 2023
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Biographical Sketch


Gabriel José García Márquez, widely known and referred to as "Gabo," was born in Aracataca, Colombia, on March 6, 1927. He was the eldest of 11 children to Gabriel Eligio García and Luisa Santiaga Márquez Iguarán de García, though he was raised through his childhood years by his maternal grandparents, Colonel Nicolás Ricardo Márquez Mejía and Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes de Márquez. He graduated from the National College for Boys in Zipaquirá, a small colonial city outside of Bogotá, in 1946 and then enrolled at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá to study law before transferring to the University of Cartagena.
García Márquez eventually abandoned his law studies to become a journalist and a writer. He wrote for several Colombian newspapers in the early 1950s including El Universal, El Heraldo, and El Espectador, and his first novel, La hojarasca (The Leaf Storm), was published in 1955. From 1955 to 1957, he lived abroad in Europe working as a foreign correspondent, then as a freelance journalist based in Paris. He also wrote two novels during that time, published several years later as El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (No One Writes to the Colonel) (1961), and La mala hora (In Evil Hour) (1962).
Soon after his return to Latin America in 1957, García Márquez married Mercedes Barcha Pardo whom he had proposed to before leaving Colombia for Europe. They were married on March 21, 1958. They had two sons, Rodrigo, born in 1959, and Gonzalo, born in 1962.
Throughout the early 1960s, García Márquez continued to work in journalism, including for the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina in Cuba and New York, and then writing for publishers and advertising agencies in Mexico City. He published what would become his most successful and well-known work Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) in 1967. This marked a life-changing time for him as he became primarily known for his fiction rather than for his journalism, and he achieved worldwide recognition as a gifted storyteller. His success as a writer also established him as a member of what became known as the "Latin American Literary Boom," along with Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Vargas Llosa. The success of One Hundred Years of Solitude would also contribute to his 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Following the 1960s, García Márquez continued to produce highly regarded works of fiction, including El otoño del patriarca (The Autumn of the Patriarch) (1975), Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) (1981), El amor en los tiempos del cólera (Love in the Time of Cholera) (1985), El general en su laberinto (The General in His Labyrinth) (1989), and Del amor y otros demonios (Of Love and Other Demons) (1994). He also continued to produce nonfiction works, including La aventura de Miguel Littín, clandestino en Chile (Clandestine in Chile: The adventures of Miguel Littín) (1986) and Noticia de un secuestro (News of a kidnapping) (1996).
In addition to his writing, García Márquez involved himself with politics in Latin America and was a strong supporter of Fidel Castro of Cuba. He was consequently denied a visa to travel to the United States, but the travel ban was lifted by President Bill Clinton when he came into office.
In 1999, García Márquez was diagnosed with lymphoma and underwent treatment in Los Angeles after which the illness went into remission. The event prompted him to work on his memoirs, and the first volume of a projected three, Vivir para contarla (Living to Tell the Tale), was published in 2002. His last work of fiction, Memoria de mis putas tristes (Memories of My Melancholy Whores), was published in 2004.
García Márquez died of pneumonia on April 17, 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico. He was 87 years old.

Sources:


In addition to material found in the Gabriel García Márquez Papers, the following sources were used:
"Gabriel García Márquez."  Contemporary Authors Online, http://galenet.galegroup.com (accessed September 2015).
Martin, Gerald. Gabriel García Márquez: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.

Scope and Contents


Scope and Contents

The papers of Colombian-born Nobel Prize–winning author, journalist, screenwriter, and key figure in Latin American history and politics, Gabriel García Márquez, consist of manuscript drafts of published and unpublished works, research material, photograph albums, scrapbooks, correspondence, clippings, notebooks, screenplays, printed material, ephemera, and electronic files. They are organized into four series: I. Literary Activities, 1948-2009, undated; II. Photographs and Scrapbooks, 1930s-2011, undated; III. Correspondence, 1961-2013, undated; and IV. Personal and Career Related, 1952-2014, undated.
Series I. Literary Activities consists of materials associated with García Márquez’s writings. It is arranged into three subseries: A. Long Works, 1948-2008, undated; B. Short Works, 1952-2009, undated; and C. Film and Theater, 1963-1997, undated. Works in these subseries are arranged in alphabetical order by the original Spanish title. The English title is also listed for works that were translated into English. Within each title, the material generally follows the chronological order of literary production, from research notes, if any, to publication drafts. The Short Works subseries is further separated into three subgroups: Articles and Essays, Short Fiction, and Forewords and Introductions all arranged alphabetically by title except for the Forewords and Introductions, which are arranged by the last name of the author of the work.
Series II. Photographs and Scrapbooks is arranged into three subseries: A. Photograph Albums, 1930s-2011; B. Scrapbooks, 1950-2005; and C. Digital Images, 2001-2008. It includes 43 photograph albums, 22 scrapbooks, and 1,482 digital images that document García Márquez’s personal and professional life and writing career from the 1930s to 2011. Retaining the original title labels created by García Márquez, the photograph albums have either general titles such as "Amigos" or "Gabo" and are sometimes numbered, or in some cases bear more descriptive titles such as "Gabo in Los Pinos" or "Gabo visit to Caracas." The scrapbooks are similarly titled according to their contents. The albums and scrapbooks are arranged in alphabetical order by the title in Spanish, though most of the titles have been translated into English in this finding aid.
Series III. Correspondence contains personal and professional letters and is subdivided into two subseries: A. Incoming Correspondence, 1966-2014, undated; and B. Outgoing Correspondence, 1961-2008, undated. Groupings within these subseries reflect the original organization in which the correspondence arrived at the Ransom Center. The Letters, Invitations and Requests group makes up the bulk of the incoming correspondence and is arranged chronologically. Within this grouping, the most voluminous set is the letters received in 1982, the year García Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize. Other incoming correspondence includes letters from his literary agency Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells, "letters from very important people," "special letters," faxes, telegrams congratulating him on his Nobel Prize, letters from his cousin Margot Policarpa Valdeblánquez, and other general correspondence. All groups are arranged chronologically except "letters from very important people," "special letters," and the Nobel Prize congratulatory telegrams, which are arranged alphabetically. The outgoing correspondence subseries is considerably smaller in volume than the incoming correspondence and is arranged alphabetically.
Series IV. Personal and Career Related contains García Márquez’s address book, clippings and publications containing articles about and interviews by and with García Márquez, awards, biographical information, material related to Cambio magazine, typescripts of articles written by Fidel Castro, contracts, currency, family papers, financial documents, material related to foundations with which García Márquez was involved, juvenilia, legal documents, photocopied correspondence from Jorge Masetti to his wife, documents and correspondence from the Museo Nacional de Colombia, material related to García Márquez’s Nobel Prize, notebooks, screenplays from his scriptwriting workshops, speeches, statements and letters, subject files, travel related material, visitors books, documents related to his visit to the White House, and works by other authors including essays about García Márquez or his works. The materials range from 1952 to 2014 and are in alphabetical order by folder title or topic.

Series Descriptions

Series I. Literary Activities, 1948-2009, undated (39.5 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 9 computer disks)
Series I. Literary Activities consists of drafts and material associated with García Márquez’s writing and is arranged into three subseries: A. Long Works, B. Short Works, and C. Film and Theater. Subseries A. Long Works is arranged in alphabetical order by original Spanish title and is chiefly made up of typescript drafts with revisions. Works of fiction in this subseries include: El amor en los tiempos del cólera (Love in the Time of Cholera) (1985), Del amor y otros demonios (Of Love and Other Demons) (1994), Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) (1967), Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) (1981), El general en su laberinto (The General in His Labyrinth) (1989), La hojarasca (Leaf Storm) (1955), Memoria de mis putas tristes (Memories of My Melancholy Whores) (2004), El otoño del patriarca (The Autumn of the Patriarch) (1975), and the posthumously published En agosto nos vemos (See You In August) (2024). Works of nonfiction include: La aventura de Miguel Littín, clandestino en Chile (Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littín) (1986), Noticia de un secuestro (News of a Kidnapping) (1996), and the memoir, Vivir para contarla (Living to Tell the Tale) (2002). Two short story compilations are also present: Doce cuentos peregrinos (Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories) (1992), and Los funerales de la Mamá Grande (Big Mama’s Funeral) (1962).
Material for each novel is arranged in order of literary production, beginning with research material, if any, and concluding with final drafts and proofs, and the published work, if present. Because early in his career García Márquez destroyed most of his drafts, older works contain a smaller amount of material than later works. Works that are only represented by published editions, though they do contain some revisions, are Doce cuentos peregrinos, Los funerales de la Mamá Grande, and his first novel, La hojarasca.
Of particular note in this series are the various typescript drafts of the posthumously published work En agosto nos vemos, including the final version that García Márquez sent to his literary agent, Carmen Balcells, in 2004. The heavily marked up manuscripts were originally in clamp binders and contained sections of pages folded over and in some cases clipped together with paperclips or binder clips. To capture the original state of the manuscripts, images were taken of the sections with folded down and clipped pages. The digitized images were printed out and are interleaved with the manuscript to show their original state. The pages were then unfolded, clips were removed, and the pages were placed in paper sleeves within the folders to keep the original groups together.
García Márquez’s most successful and well-known novel, Cien años de soledad, is represented by two typescript drafts, one carbon and one photocopy, with identical light corrections. The carbon typescript was bound with brads in three sections. Each section has been wrapped with acid-free paper with a support attached, and all three are housed together in a custom-made archival box. The original folder and box in which it was contained were retained and are housed in their own archival box. An edition published by Mondadori in 1987 is also included and contains revisions by García Márquez. Additional revisions were made to the commemorative edition published by Real Academia Española in 2007 as evidenced by the partial proof that is also present.
Another well-known work, El amor en los tiempos del cólera, is represented by two drafts, a first correction and a final correction. Also present are two published books with light revisions: the first edition by Oveja Negra from 1985 and a Mondadori edition from 1987.
There is extensive research material for El general en su laberinto including notecards, articles, and several books on Simón Bolívar, some with annotations. Books that were not annotated were transferred to the Ransom Center Library. In addition to the manuscripts, two published editions of this novel are included, both containing handwritten revisions by García Márquez.
Especially well represented with several numbered and marked up versions are: Del amor y otros demonios, Memoria de mis putas tristes, and Noticia de un secuestro. Memoria de mis putas tristes contains the most drafts with ten numbered versions as well as an early draft, two proofs, and various fragments. Noticia de un secuestro, which was based on a true event, includes two notebooks containing handwritten notes in addition to the typescript drafts.
El otoño del patriarca includes a photocopied typescript, galleys and correspondence regarding a film adaption. One of the correspondents is Marlon Brando, who was interested in playing the lead role.
The first volume of García Márquez’s memoir Vivir para contarla is also well represented with several numbered versions and proofs, as well as research material, including transcripts and notes from interviews conducted by Jacques Gilard from 1977 to 1979, a book dummy, and three published editions, all with revisions. A small amount of material for the unfinished second volume is also present in the form of research material and typescript drafts.
Subseries B. Short Works contains García Márquez’s articles and essays, and short fiction. Both subgroups are arranged in alphabetical order by title and include typescript drafts, handwritten manuscripts, printed articles, clippings, and offprints. Shorter pieces are housed together in folders by letter span, while larger files are housed in their own folder. Especially well represented are the essay Un manual para ser niño (1995) and the short story La Tigra (2004) adapted from an earlier film synopsis. The 'fruit calendar riddles' are short riddle-like poems about fruit and include photocopies of the handwritten originals. Two offprints from Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos of the short story "Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes" (1955) are also present.
This subseries also includes forewords and introductions written by García Márquez. This subgroup is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the author of the book. Works are represented by either typescripts, some with revisions, or photocopied pages from the published book. A list of forewords and introductions written by García Márquez is included, but not all of those listed are in the file.
Subseries C. Film and Theater is the smallest of this series and is made up of film synopses, screenplays, and one play, all arranged alphabetically by title. The film synopses and screenplays in this subseries are Eréndira (1983), adapted from his short story "La increíble y triste historia de la cándida Eréndira y su abuela desalmada," and Tiempo de morir (1965), and two unproduced films, Für Elise and Tango del viudo. Two typescripts of the one-act play, Diatriba de amor contra un hombre sentado (1988) are also present.
An Index of Works Not Identified by Title in the Container List is included with this finding aid. It lists short works filed together or located in other folders within the collection.
Series II. Photographs and Scrapbooks, 1930s-2011, undated (15 boxes, 11 oversize boxes, 4 computer disks)
Series II. Photographs and Scrapbooks contains material removed from 43 photograph albums, 22 scrapbooks, and 1,419 digital images and is arranged into three subseries: A. Photograph Albums, B. Scrapbooks, and C. Digital Images. The first two subseries are arranged in alphabetical order by the Spanish title assigned to the album or book. Most of the titles have been translated into English and listed in this finding aid.
Subseries A. Photograph Albums contains a large amount of photographs documenting García Márquez’s life spanning over eight decades. Personal photos include his childhood years, his time working as a journalist, his travels, celebrations of birthdays and anniversaries, and candid photographs with his family and friends. Professionally he is depicted in publicity photographs, at various events and conferences, meeting politicians from around the world, and receiving awards.
García Márquez had many notable friends and acquaintances, and they also appear in the photographs. The "Amigos" albums include photos with Woody Allen, Carmen Balcells, Luis Buñuel, Fidel Castro, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Graham Greene, Milan Kundera, Pablo Neruda, Robert Redford, and Juan Rulfo, among others. The "Embassies and Ambassadors" and "Gabo with Presidents" albums depict García Márquez with various ambassadors, diplomats, and presidents including Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, and several Latin American presidents.
The "Gabo" albums document García Márquez’s personal and professional life by way of family snapshots as well as publicity photographs by professional photographers. Family celebrations include his 60th birthday (celebrated in 1988 due to his birth year being incorrectly cited as 1928), his 80th birthday, and his and Mercedes’s 53rd wedding anniversary. Other photographs depict him working on Cien años de soledad, filming Tiempo de morir, receiving his honorary doctorate from Columbia University in 1971, with a black eye after being punched in the face by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa in 1976, and attending various events and conferences. Some of the professional photographers whose photographs of García Márquez appear here are Ulf Andersen, Peter Badge, Hernán Díaz, Jesse A. Fernandez, Robert Lebeck, Rodrigo Moya, Steve Pyke, Indira Restrepo, Judith Joy Ross, Pedro Valtierra, and Dimitris Yeros.
The "Nobel Prize" album documents the events surrounding García Márquez’s Nobel Prize in Literature award beginning with a photograph of García Márquez and Mercedes outside their Mexico City home on the morning of the announcement taken by their son, Rodrigo, to his time in Stockholm surrounded by family and close friends in his hotel room, and finally during and after the ceremony.
Family trips are also documented in the photographs. The destinations include Barcelona, Spain; Cancun, Mexico; Caracas, Venezuela; Chile; China and Japan; New York; and, especially, Havana, Cuba for which there are four albums. Frequently appearing in the "La Habana" albums is García Márquez’s close friend, Fidel Castro. Both men are often depicted in casual settings including relaxing on a yacht and roasting a goat on a spit. The album "Fidel - Birán" documents Castro’s visit to his birthplace.
All but six of the albums consisted of magnetic adhesive pages in large binders. For conservation purposes, these albums were digitized and/or photographed in their original state before the photographs were removed from the album pages and sleeved in archival sleeves. The photographs were placed in the same sequence within folders and housed in archival boxes. Pages that were flagged or had explanatory text written on them were photocopied and filed with the photographs, and all flags were retained. One album ("Amigos VII") was kept intact as a sample of the original state. The remaining six albums that did not have magnetic adhesive pages were deemed archivally sound by Ransom Center photograph conservators and left intact.
Subseries B. Scrapbooks consists of 22 scrapbooks containing articles and clippings by and about García Márquez and his works. Scrapbooks containing material related to individual works include those for El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Cien años de soledad, El general en su laberinto, and Vivir para contarla. Five scrapbooks are devoted to clippings of interviews, stories, articles, and excerpts by and about García Márquez from newspapers around the world in Colombia, France, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the United States.
General press clippings make up two "GGM Press" scrapbooks as well as an older unlabeled book from 1950 to 1974. Press and reviews of various works are located in two "Press releases" books as well as the unlabeled scrapbook from 1968 to 1988 and throughout the other books.
The book "La Novelería por el Novelista Nobelado" was compiled by Fernando Jaramillo E. and contains bound photocopied clippings and articles regarding García Márquez’s Nobel Prize.
One scrapbook, "Cambio Colombia and Cambio Mexico" consists of clippings and tearsheets by and about García Márquez from the Colombian and Mexican versions of the magazine that he purchased and to which he frequently contributed articles.
Of note in this subseries is the book "La Jirafa, por Septimus." It contains clippings of a weekly column written by García Márquez under the pseudonym Septimus from 1950 to 1952 for the newspaper El Heraldo. The front cover of the binder features an embossed giraffe (jirafa), and the book is inscribed to him.
Subseries C. Digital Images consists of 1,419 photographs documenting García Márquez’s personal life, particularly close family members. Also included are photographs of García Márquez with pop star Shakira.
Series III. Correspondence, 1961-2014, undated (11.5 boxes)
Series III. Correspondence consists of incoming and outgoing letters. It is arranged in two subseries: A. Incoming Correspondence, and B. Outgoing Correspondence. The letters are arranged chronologically except for a few groups that are arranged alphabetically by sender or receiver. The groupings reflect the organization in which the correspondence arrived at the Ransom Center with the "Letters, Invitations and Requests" making up the bulk. These consist of fan letters and autograph requests from readers and admirers, invitations to conferences and festivals, and requests for lectures or appearances. The letters were originally grouped by year, and have been further organized by month and day. The largest group are the letters from 1982, especially those from October when García Márquez’s Nobel Prize was announced, and the months following. Another large group is the letters of condolence sent to him in June-July 2002 following the death of his mother. Some outgoing correspondence is located throughout this group. Additional fan mail, invitations, and requests are found under the general correspondence.
Other incoming correspondence includes letters from his literary agent Carmen Balcells, and her office, Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells. They are arranged chronologically and include incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as some third-party correspondence as Balcells often handled various matters related to García Márquez’s works such as requests for film rights and permission to publish excerpts. Also present are receipts documenting shipments of books and other documents. Letters are often addressed to García Márquez’s assistant, Blanca Rodríguez, and later, Mónica Alonso.
The "Letters from very important people" and "Special letters" were designated as such by either García Márquez or someone in his family, most likely his wife. Both groups are arranged alphabetically. Correspondents in the "Letters from very important people" group include Kofi Annan, Emilio Azcarraga, Belisario Betancur, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Raúl Castro, Bill Clinton, José Luis Cuevas, Akira Kurosawa, Thomas "Mack" McLarty, François Mitterrand, Kenzaburō Ōe, and Andrés Pastrana Arango, among others. "Special letters" is a bigger group, and among those correspondents are Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, Miguel Alemán Velasco, publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Guillermo Angulo, Harry Belafonte, Cass Canfield, Jr., Francis Ford Coppola, Julio Cortázar, Umberto Eco, Jane Fonda, Carlos Fuentes, Indira Gandhi, Günter Grass, Milan Kundera, Yoko Ono, Gregory Rabassa, and many others, including some who are unidentified.
A large amount of telegrams congratulating him on his Nobel Prize are arranged alphabetically. Senders include Julio Cortázar, Régis Debray, Umberto Eco, Carlos Fuentes, Ashbel Green, Graham Greene, and Norman Mailer. Included with these telegrams are two drafts of García Márquez’s banquet speech "Brindis por la poesía."
Other groups of incoming correspondence include faxes from 1998 to 2001. They are mostly business related, arranged chronologically, and include some outgoing letters. Also included is a small file of letters from his cousin Margot Policarpa Valdeblánquez, which contains some family stories, and a small group of general correspondence arranged chronologically and made up of additional fan mail, requests, and invitations and other business related items.
An Index of Selected Correspondents is included in this finding aid. It lists the bulk of the correspondents found throughout the collection with the exception of those in the "Letters, Invitations and Requests" group and the Nobel Prize congratulatory telegrams.
A 2022 Addition to the Correspondence series contains incoming correspondence with groupings reflecting the organization in which the correspondence arrived at the Center. These materials belong with the original acquisition but they were discovered by the estate at a later date. "Letters, Invitations and Requests" are arranged alphabetically. Senders include correspondents already represented in the collection such as Kofi Annan, Carmen Balcells, Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton, Carlos Fuentes, Edith Grossman, Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, and Joaquín Sabina, togehter with new correspondents, such as Woody Allen, Richard Avedon, Laurent Fabius, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, Augusto Monterroso, Pablo Neruda, Robert Redford and Wim Wenders, among others. It also includes some exchanges with the Nobel Foundation, and a letter from Fabio Ochoa, father of three of the leading members of the Medellin cartel, claiming his innocence. The "Fan Mail", "Birthday and special letters" and "Various non related" are organized chronologically. Also included in this addition are two portfolios of signatures and well wishes from the Chinese Embassy in Colombia.
Subseries B. Outgoing Correspondence contains outgoing letters arranged alphabetically. Of note are photocopies of letters written to an unidentified person, Alfredo, in which García Márquez expresses his thoughts on working on children’s stories and other projects after the publication of Cien años de soledad, a handwritten letter from 1961 to Jorge Masetti regarding his quitting his job with the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, a photocopy of his letter to Francisco Porrúa of Sudamericana in 1965 offering the manuscript for Cien años de soledad (they would go on to publish it), a letter to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 regarding the Puerto Rican Andrés Figueroa Cordero in prison in the U.S., and a letter from 2003 to Salman Rushdie lamenting that they have never met in person.
Other notable outgoing correspondence includes photocopies of letters from the 1960s to early 1970s to his friends Álvaro Cepeda Samudio and Germán Vargas who were also part of the Baranquilla group.
The "Answered correspondence" group is also arranged alphabetically and includes many handwritten and signed letters by García Márquez replying to requests and invitations, some of which are also present.
Series IV. Personal and Career Related, 1952-2014, undated (13 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 55 computer disks)
Series IV. Personal and Career Related contains García Márquez’s address book, articles and interviews by and about him, awards and honors, biographical information, material related to Cambio magazine, typescripts of articles and a speech by Fidel Castro, contracts, family papers, financial documents, material related to foundations, juvenilia, legal documents, material from the Museo Nacional de Colombia, Nobel Prize lecture drafts and ephemera, notebooks, screenplays, speeches, statements and letters, subject files, travel related material, visitors books, material related to his visit to the White House, and works by others. The materials are in alphabetical order by folder title or topic.
The articles and interviews include clippings and printed material of articles about García Márquez and his works. The interviews consist of those with him, as well as some conducted by him, including text from two conversations between García Márquez and Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa.
Awards and honors include an honorary membership to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Institute of Arts and Letters; his honorary doctorate from Columbia University; and The One Show / Merit Award from the Art Directors Club, the Copy Club of New York.
Material related to Cambio, the magazine García Márquez purchased and to which he frequently contributed, includes a photocopy of issue number 294 from February 1999 with editorial and layout notes by García Márquez, and some typescripts by him and by others with his corrections and revisions.
One typescript of a speech and three typescripts of articles by Fidel Castro for his column "Reflexiones del compañero Fidel" from July 2008 are present in this series. A photocopy of a letter that Castro wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a child is also included here.
Contracts from his literary agency Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells make up the bulk of the contracts section and are mostly for translations of his works. Contracts with La Oveja Negra are also present. Of note in this section is the original contract with Editorial Sudamericana for Cien años de soledad.
Family papers consist of Mercedes’s high school diploma and typescripts of various articles written by García Márquez’s brother, Gustavo García Márquez.
The financial documents include material related to El Equilibrista, a publishing house in which García Márquez invested, expense reports from Colombia from 2009 to 2014, and royalty statements from 1988.
Material related to two foundations with which García Márquez was involved includes documents concerning Fundación Cultural Lya y Luis Cardoza y Aragón and Fundación del Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (Foundation for a New Ibero-American Journalism), which he launched.
A 2024 addition of juvenilia comprised of two handwritten manuscripts are the earliest examples of García Márquez’s writing and believed to have been composed by him during his teen years. "Caricatura" is a one-page illustrated poem dedicated to his girlfriend. Though the script of the poem is not in García Márquez’s hand, the humorous tone, dedication and signature are his and suggest that it is his work. The second one-page manuscript was written and illustrated by García Márquez at perhaps the same time as the poem.
The legal documents include material related to book piracy in Colombia after García Márquez pulled his books from stores there due to the large amount of pirated copies being sold; a petition to get his grandfather, Nicolás Márquez’s rank posthumously upgraded from Colonel to General; documents related to the lawsuit filed by the sailor depicted in García Márquez’s non-fiction story Relato de un náufrago (The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor); and papers and clippings on the Tierras Chiapas case wherein García Márquez endured a case of mistaken identity and was falsely accused of taking land from Indians (the perpetrator was also named Gabriel García Márquez). The material related to his U.S. visa includes a statement written by him detailing his previous visits to the U.S. and the difficulties he experienced regarding his visa, as well as correspondence between him and his lawyers.
Documents and correspondence from the Museo Nacional de Colombia concern the restoration of García Márquez’s childhood home, and his donation to the museum of the "liqui liqui" he wore to the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Nobel Prize material consists of drafts and translated versions of his Nobel lecture, as well as ephemera including plane tickets, a program, dinner menu, receipts from the hotel, several commemorative García Márquez stamps, and printed versions of his lecture.
Three small notebooks contain handwritten notes from a trip to Cuba or possibly Vietnam, and an additional notebook labeled 'Notas' contains two pages on which a list is written.
There are a large amount of screenplays, both in paper and electronic form, from scriptwriting workshops conducted by García Márquez. Many of them credit him as co-writer, showing the collaborative nature of these workshops. These have been arranged alphabetically by author. Some of the files also contain the contract paperwork for each screenplay, while some contain only the contracts, or in some cases, only a synopsis of the film.
The speeches consist of transcripts of speeches and lectures by García Márquez for various events, many of which have been published. A list of the speeches is also in this file.
Statements and letters are typed and handwritten statements by García Márquez regarding various topics and events such as the deaths of Luis Donaldo Colosio and Octavio Paz, Mexican cinema, the Cuban Democracy Act, and expressing his solidarity with Jesús de Polanco and Juan Luis Cebrián. Also included are open letters written to various people including Bill Clinton, César Gaviria, Enrique Santos Calderón, Luis Mandoki, and Salman Rushdie. Statements lacking a title are described with a brief subject or topic in brackets. A list of the statements is included in this file. A small amount of letters of recommendation are also contained within this group. An additional file contains statements that were falsely credited to García Márquez.
The subject files cover a range of topics including drugs, specifically drug legalization, and the Colombian singer and performer Shakira. The file on Elián González, the young Cuban boy at the center of a custody and immigration controversy between Cuba and the U.S., includes notes and articles about González and photographs of García Márquez with González and his family. Two files labeled "Peace in Colombia" contain identical material, which consists of articles and correspondence with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army). One of the files was labeled "GM" and the other "Monica," referring to García Márquez’s assistant. The Alistair Reid file contains articles and correspondence regarding Reid, a writer, who in 1984 was accused of fabricating facts in articles written for the New Yorker.
Travel related material includes nine of García Márquez’s passports documenting his travels to various locations, as well as his airline miles statements for several airlines.
The works by others include those about García Márquez and his works, and a small amount of works not related to him. The majority of the items about him are offprints from different publications.

Related Material


Additional García Márquez materials at the Ransom Center are located in the Gabriel García Márquez Collection and the Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza Collection of Gabriel García Márquez.

Separated Material


Bound volumes and commercial audio tapes were transferred to the Ransom Center Library. Unpublished cassette tapes were transferred to the Ransom Center Sound Recordings Collection. Moving image material including VHS tapes and DVDs were transferred to the Ransom Center Moving Image Collection. Computers and computer disks were transferred to the Ransom Center’s Digital Collections Services Department. Two typewriters and two buttons were transferred to the Ransom Center’s Personal Effects Collection.

Index Terms


People

Castro, Fidel, 1926-2016.
Cepeda Samudio, Alvaro.
Clinton, Bill, 1946- .
García, Rodrigo, 1959- .
Masetti, Jorge Ricardo, 1929-1964.
Vargas, Germán.

Subjects

Authors, Colombian--20th century.
Colombian fiction--20th century.
Journalism--Latin America.
Latin American literature.
Novelists, Colombian--20th century.

Document Types

Clippings.
Correspondence.
Digital images.
Electronic documents.
Manuscripts.
Photographs.
Publications.
Scrapbooks.
Scripts.

Spanish Language Finding Aid


A Spanish language finding aid is also available.

Container List