GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ Gabriel Jose de la Concordia Garcia Marquez, born on March 6, 1927 in Aracataca, a town on Colombia's Atlantic coast, is an iconic literary figure. He is affectionately known as Gabo. Gabo was the eldest of a large family of twelve siblings. His father, Gabriel Eligio García, was one of the immigrants who arrived in Aracataca during the banana rush in the first decade of the 20th century. The boy Gabo grew up with his grandparents in Aracataca, considering his grandfather as "the most important figure in my life". These first eight years of "prodigious childhood" marked his narrative and mythical universe. The memories of his family, the vivacity of the peasant language and the coexistence with the magical would be reflected in many of his works, such as "La hojarasca", "Cien años de soledad" and "El amor en los tiempos del cólera". University life: In 1947, García Márquez moved to Bogotá to stud...