Bolaño, Roberto, 1953-2003

Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (Spanish: [roˈβeɾto βoˈlaɲo ˈaβalos] ; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel The Savage Detectives, and in 2008 he was posthumously awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for his novel 2666, which was described by board member Marcela Valdes as a "work so rich and dazzling that it will surely draw readers and scholars for ages". Bolaño's work is highly regarded by writers and literary critics. The New York Times described him as "the most significant Latin American literary voice of his generation" and he has frequently been compared with Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar. His books have been translated into numerous languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Dutch and Greek.