Mercedes Barcha
Mercedes Barcha | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 6, 1932 Magangué, Colombia |
| Died | August 15, 2020 (aged 87) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Mercedes Raquel Barcha Pardo (November 6, 1932 – August 15, 2020) was the wife of novelist Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014).[1]
Life
Barcha was born on November 6, 1932, in Magangué, Colombia. Barcha is best known for her financial and emotional support of her Nobel Prize-winning husband, the author Gabriel García Márquez.[2][3] She famously pawned her hair dryer to raise the postage needed to mail the draft of One Hundred Years of Solitude to the publisher.[4]
She went by the nickname "La Gaba", a feminine version of her husband's nickname "Gabo".[4]
Marriage
She met García Márquez in 1941 when they were both still children; he was 14 and she was nine. In The Fragrance of Guava, it is recounted how García Márquez proposed to her at a school dance when she was 13.[5] They finally married in Barranquilla on March 21, 1958, when he was 31 and she was 25.[6][4] The couple had two sons: director Rodrigo García and graphic designer Gonzalo García.[7][8] At the end of The Fragrance of Guava, when García Márquez was asked who was the most interesting person he had every met, he answered "my wife".[5]
Occupation
In 2014, after García Márquez's death, she served as the President Emerita of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez Iberoamerican Foundation for New Journalism in Cartagena, Colombia. In 2017, she founded the Fundación Gabo to promote García Márquez's legacy.[9][10]
Death
Barcha died in Mexico City on August 15, 2020.[6]
References
- ^ Green, Penelope (23 August 2020). "Mercedes Barcha, Gabriel García Márquez's Wife and Muse, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ "Addio a Mercedes Barcha, moglie di Gabriel Garcia Marquez". L'HuffPost (in Italian). 16 August 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ "Mercedes Barcha, 1932-2020". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ a b c Walch, Louis (2020-11-06). "The Discreet Strength of Mercedes Barcha". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ a b Mendoza, Plinio Apuleyo (1983). The Fragrance of Guava. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 9780571193264.
- ^ a b "Mercedes Barcha, el gran amor y la musa de Gabriel García Márquez". ABC (in Spanish). 16 August 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ Osorio, Camila (15 August 2020). "Muere Mercedes Barcha, la mujer que hizo posible el éxito de García Márquez". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ Tiempo, Redacción El (2008-05-17). "Gonzalo García Barcha, hijo diseñador de Gabo, está en Colombia para dictar el taller 'Bogotipos'". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-06-27.
- ^ "Fundador". Fundación Gabo (in Spanish). 30 November 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
- ^ Bhattacharyya, Indradeep (24 August 2020). "Mercedes Barcha Pardo Fuelled Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Literary World". The Wire. Retrieved 24 September 2020.