One of Uruguay’s most celebrated writers, Mario Benedetti, has died.

The 88-year-old lived in exile during Uruguay’s military regime from 1973 to 83, and his poems on love and politics became popular right across South America and in Spain. He lived in Argentina, Peru, Cuba, Majorca and Madrid. Benedetti wrote novels, short stories, poems, and essays, and some of his work was even turned into hit songs by a Spanish pop star. “I hope I’ll be remembered by young people,” he once told an interviewer. “The young of today have always been present. When I do a lecture of poems, half of the stalls or the theatre are full of young people.” Even well into his 80s Benedetti performed sold-out readings in Uruguay’s capital.More about: Literature, Uruguay

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