Members of the Princeton University Library community join readers around the world in mourning the passing of renowned novelist and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa on Sunday, April 13, 2025.

Princeton University Library is deeply honored to be the home of the Mario Vargas Llosa Papers, an extraordinary archive that has drawn countless scholars from around the globe over the years. The collection features an extensive array of manuscripts and typescripts of his literary works, along with correspondence, articles, speeches, and other materials dating back to 1944.

Vargas Llosa, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Princeton University. That same year, he served as a Distinguished Visitor in the Program in Latin American Studies. Earlier, during the 1992–93 academic year, he taught courses on novelistic technique and the works of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. He visited the Library on numerous occasions.

“I am basically a writer, not a teacher, but I enjoy teaching because of the students, and the chance to talk to them about good literature,” Vargas Llosa said in 2010. “Good literature is not only entertainment — it is a fantastic entertainment — but it’s also something that gives you a better understanding of the world in which you live. Literature is an exploration of all the possibilities of human life.” 

Related readings:

Mario Vargas Llosa: Giant of Latin American literature dies at 89
Princeton Distinguished Visitor Vargas Llosa celebrates Nobel in Literature
Nobel Laureate Vargas Llosa brings literary flair back to Princeton
Princeton awards six honorary degrees