Miguel Ángel Asturias (October 19, 1899 – June 9, 1974) was a Guatemalan writer and diplomat. He was born in Guatemala City and died in Madrid. October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... The Republic of Guatemala is a country in Central America, in the south of the continent of North America, bordering both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. ... Guatemala City (in full, La Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción; locally known as Guatemala or, informally, Guate) is the capital and largest city of Guatemala. ... Coat of arms The Plaza de España square Madrid, the capital of Spain, is located in the center of the country at 40°25′ N 3°45′ W. Population of the city of Madrid proper was 3,093,000 (Madrilenes, madrileños) as of 2003 estimates. ...

In 1917, Miguel Asturias studied law at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala where he participated in the 1920 uprising against Guatemalan dictator Manuel Estrada Cabrera. He graduated in 1923 and went to Paris, France to further his education at the Sorbonne. While living in Paris, he was influenced by the gathering of writers and artists in Montparnasse and began writing poetry and fiction. Manuel José Estrada Cabrera (November 21, 1857 – September 24, 1923) was President of Guatemala from 8 February 1898 to 15 April 1920. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The Sorbonne today, from the same point of view The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganized as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris I–XIII). ... The Montparnasse Tower, which at 209m was the tallest building in Western Europe when it was built. ...

Asturias returned to Guatemala in 1933 where he worked as a journalist before serving in his country's diplomatic corp. When the government of President Jacobo Arbenz fell in 1954, he was banned from the country by Carlos Castillo Armas. While living in exile he became a well known author with the release of his novel, Mulata. Eventually, the new president of Guatemala appointed him as the ambassador to France in 1966, the same year he won the Lenin Peace Prize. Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán was the democratically-elected, left-wing reformist President of Guatemala. ... Carlos Castillo Armas (November 4, 1914_July 26, 1957) was president of Guatemala from July 8, 1954 until his assassination in 1957. ... The International Stalin Peace Prize (renamed Международная Ленинская премия «За укрепление мира между народами», the International Lenin Peace Prize as a result of destalinization) was the Soviet Unions answer to the Nobel Peace Prize. ...

He was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in literature "for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America." The Nobel Prize in literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual work, though individual works are sometimes...

Asturias spent his final years in Madrid, Spain where he died in 1974. He is buried in the Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris. The Cimetière du Père Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris, and one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. ...

Works

• Leyendas de Guatemala ("Legends of Guatemala") (1930)
• Sonetos ("Sonnets") (1936)
• El señor Presidente ("The President") (1946)
• Hombres de maíz ("Men of Maize") (1949)
• "The Banana Trilogy"
  • Viento fuerte ("The Cyclone") (1950)
  • El papa verde ("The Green Pope") (1954)
  • Los ojos de los enterrados ("The Eyes of the Interred") (1960)
• Week-end en Guatemala ("Weekend in Guatemala") (1956)
• El alhajadito ("The Bejeweled Boy") (1961)

Adapted from the article Miguel Asturias (http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.phtml?title=Miguel_Asturias), from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Wikinfo, formerly known as Internet-Encyclopedia (renamed in January 2004), is a fork of Wikipedia initiated by Fred Bauder in July 2003. ... GFDL redirects here. ...