Today, March 6, is the birthday of Colombian author and Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez who was born in Aracataca, Colombia in 1928. Most widely known for his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquez drew from his colorful life to create his stories. The oldest of twelve children, he was primarily raised by his grandparents. His grandmother was a weaver of tales full of ghosts, omens, and the supernatural. His grandfather was a leftist colonel who fought in two civil wars. Garcia Marquez became a journalist and had no thoughts of writing fiction until driving one day between Mexico City and Acapulco, the whole first chapter of One Hundred Years... came to him. His wife had to pawn household goods, sell their car, and apply for loans to support him while he wrote. To date, that book has sold about 30 million copies.

Garcia Marquez said: "Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry."