Augusto Roa Bastos
Augusto José Antonio Roa Bastos was a prominent Paraguayan novelist and short story writer, recognized as one of the most important Latin American writers of the 20th century.
He fought in the Chaco War as a teenager and later worked as journalist, screenwriter, and professor.
His masterwork, Yo el Supremo (I, the Supreme), explores dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia's rule over Paraguay.
Political persecution forced Roa Bastos into exile in Argentina in 1947 and France in 1976.
Writing primarily in exile, he blended Spanish with Guaraní, incorporating Paraguayan myths into a Neobaroque, magic realist style.
He received the prestigious Premio Miguel de Cervantes in 1989.
