Colombian writer Alvaro Mutis dies

Mexico City:Colombian writer Alvaro Mutis, a long-time resident of Mexico, died at a hospital here, official sources said Monday. He was 90. The acclaimed author passed away late Sunday at the National Cardiology Institute, Mexico's National Culture and Arts Council, or Conaculta, the sources said.

Mutis was a close friend of Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who also lives in Mexico. The president of Conaculta, Rafael Tovar, offered his condolences to Mutis's widow 'and to Gabriel Garcia Marquez for the death of his dearest friend'. Mutis, who had lived in Mexico since 1956, was considered one of the best poets and storytellers of his generation and an exceptional creator of 'magic realism.'

Besides the 2001 Cervantes Prize, he was honoured with the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, the Queen Sofia Poetry Prize, the Prix Medicis for the best foreign novel in France, and the Grinzane-Cavour Prize of Italy. Conaculta recalled that to celebrate his 90th birthday, the Colombian government paid tribute to him last month with ceremonies that included a cycle of movies based on his novels.