Anyone who is a lover of books knows that the world truly lost one of the greats yesterday when Gabriel García Márquez passed away yesterday. He was a Latin American novelist who was able to achieve a level of fame that most authors from the United States never get to.

As an author, Gabriel García Márquez was most known for his work One Hundred Years Of Solitude, a novel that sold more than 50 million copies, and has been translated into more than 25 languages. It is held in high regard among novels of the 20th century, and is often cited as a favorite among many fans and critics.

Márquez died on Thursday at his home in southern Mexico City, according to two people close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity out of respect for the family’s privacy. He had been ill and was released from the hospital in Mexico City last week following a lung and urinary tract infection. However, his condition was said to be “very fragile” due to his age, and his life came to an end yesterday.

Today we say goodbye to 1972 Neustadt laureate Gabriel García Márquez. Help us share his legacy by sharing this image pic.twitter.com/bLmTUJ3VMi

— WorldLiteratureToday (@worldlittoday) April 18, 2014

He has been hailed as the best Latin American writer since Miguel De Cervantes, who was famous for writing the epic Don Quixote. As an author, he has also received comparisons to some of the biggest authors of all time including Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.

Gabriel García Márquez received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, and is one of the most well-known for what he does. He wrote fiction rooted in a mythical Latin American landscape of his own creation, and helped to pioneer a genre known as magical realism, a genre that Salman Rushdie has also been known for.

Speaking on his death, former US President Bill Clinton said “I was always amazed by his unique gifts of imagination, clarity of thought, and emotional honesty. I was honored to be his friend and to know his great heart and brilliant mind for more than 20 years.”

Aside from One Hundred Years Of Solitude, he was famous for novels such as Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and The General in His Labyrinth. In addition to his works of fiction, he has also written a number of short works of non-fiction and early practitioner of the literary nonfiction that would become known as New Journalism.

Gabo had it right, this really resonates with me. RIP #GabrielGarciaMarquez pic.twitter.com/bbYr1mwLvN

— Hannah Jude Webb Ⓥ (@spinsawebb) April 18, 2014

Gabriel García Márquez was a native of Colombia, and he was born in Aracataca, a small town near Colombia’s Caribbean coast, on March 6, 1927. His work has become synonymous with the life of Latin America, and many world leaders and authors have already expressed their sadness for the passing of a legendary writer.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos took to twitter to express his sadness for the loss of Márquez.

Mil años de soledad y tristeza por la muerte del más grande colombiano de todos los tiempos! Solidaridad y condolencias a la Gaba y familia

— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) April 17, 2014

Los gigantes nunca mueren

— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) April 17, 2014

Image via Wikimedia Commons