Mercedes Raquel Barcha Pardo (November 6, 1932 – August 15, 2020) was the wife of novelist
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...
(1927–2014).
Life
Barcha was born on November 6, 1932, in
Magangué
Magangué is a city and municipality in the Department of Bolivar. The city is located in the Magdalena River; 20 km north of the mouth of the Cauca River
The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Ce ...
, Colombia. Barcha is best known for her financial and emotional support of her
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
-winning husband, the author
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...
.
She famously pawned her hair dryer to raise the postage needed to mail the draft of
One Hundred Years of Solitude
''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' (, ) is a 1967 in literature, 1967 novel by Colombian people, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez that tells the Family saga, multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio ...
to the publisher.
She went by the nickname "La Gaba", a feminine version of her husband's nickname "Gabo".
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
''The Fragrance of Guava'' is a book based on the long conversations between Gabriel García Márquez and his close friend Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza. Published in 1982, the book describes the life of García Márquez, from his early childhood to his ...
,
it is recounted how García Márquez proposed to her at school dance when she was 13. They finally married in
Barranquilla
Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...
on March 21, 1958 when he was thirty-one and she was twenty-five.
The couple had two sons, director
Rodrigo García and Gonzalo García, who was born in Mexico and later became a graphic designer in Mexico City.
At the end of
The Fragrance of Guava
''The Fragrance of Guava'' is a book based on the long conversations between Gabriel García Márquez and his close friend Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza. Published in 1982, the book describes the life of García Márquez, from his early childhood to his ...
, when García Márquez is asked who was the most interesting person he had every met, he answered "my wife".
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.
Death
Barcha died in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
on August 15, 2020.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barcha, Mercedes
1932 births
2020 deaths
Gabriel García Márquez