Mercedes Barcha
Wife of novelist Gabriel García Márquez
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Mercedes Raquel Barcha Pardo (November 6, 1932 – August 15, 2020) was the wife of novelist Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014).[1]
Mercedes Barcha | |
|---|---|
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| Born | November 6, 1932 Magangué, Colombia |
| Died | August 15, 2020 (aged 87) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Life
Barcha was born on November 6, 1932, in Magangué, Colombia. Barcha is best known for her financial and emotional support of her Nobel Prize-winning husband, the author Gabriel García Márquez.[2][3] She famously pawned her hair dryer to raise the postage needed to mail the draft of One Hundred Years of Solitude to the publisher.[4]
She went by the nickname "La Gaba", a feminine version of her husband's nickname "Gabo".[4]
Marriage
She met García Márquez in 1941 when they were both still children; he was 14 and she was nine. In The Fragrance of Guava, it is recounted how García Márquez proposed to her at a school dance when she was 13.[5] They finally married in Barranquilla on March 21, 1958, when he was 31 and she was 25.[6][4] The couple had two sons: director Rodrigo García and graphic designer Gonzalo García.[7][8] At the end of The Fragrance of Guava, when García Márquez was asked who was the most interesting person he had ever met, he answered "my wife".[5]
Occupation
Death
Barcha died in Mexico City on August 15, 2020.[6]