Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza (born January 1, 1932) is a Colombian journalist, writer, and diplomat. Mendoza was named in honour to the Roman authors Pliny the Younger and Apuleius.
Career
Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza born in Tunja, Boyacá in 1932, son of the lawyer and politic Plinio Mendoza Neira, who was witness to the murder of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán.[1] He studied political science at Sorbonne in Paris.[2]
Mendoza had a close friendship with Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. They spent time in Europe during the early 60s. Mendoza published a biographical novel regarding the life and anecdotes of García Márquez and their circle of friends, poets, and writers during those years in Europe. The book was entitled "The Fragrance of the Guava".
Mendoza served as First Secretary of the Colombian Embassy in France, writing newspaper articles for several international publications at the same time.[3] After returning to Colombia in 1959, he became a full-time writer and journalist.[4]
Works
Short stories
The Deserter. Short Stories. 1974
The day that we buried the weapons. 2014
Novels
Vanishing years. 1979
Five days at the island. 1997
Between two waters. 2010
Non-fiction
The flame and the ice. 1984
People, places: selection of articles written in Europe and America. 1986
Fire zones: the guerrilla in Colombia, reportage and analysis.
Our painters in Paris. 1989
The challenges of the power: open letter to former Colombian presidents. 1991
The sun continues rising. 1994
Those times with Gabo, 2000, extension of one of the chapters of 1984
Wind time: portraits, mementos, 2002
An unknown García Márquez, 2009
Many things to tell, 2012
Gabo: letters and mementos, 2013, an extension of the 2000 book
