15 Latin American Writers and Their Masterpieces

Since I posted something about some books I most like or I want to read the most, I've kept thinking who could be the best writers of Latin America... Of course there is no a right answer, every one can pick the writers whose books have more in common with their personalities or wishes and so on.

Painting of Pablo Neruda

So I decided to look for some good writers. It was not an easy task, but I found 15 great Latin American writers eventually. I based my list on The Guardian's, on the 501 Great Writers', on the 1001 Books you must read before you die's list, and on The Western Canon by Harold Bloom. 

In the 1001 Books... there are sometimes more than one book by the writers selected below, sometimes there's none... that's because the criteria used by the publishers are different. I've tried to pick the books that were in common in every list. In some cases I couldn't find a book for the autor (the case of Casares), I researched in the web for a book considered good by other critics different from those I cited above. In alphabetical order the outcome of my research:

See also: Top 20 Great Books (you won't regret reading)

1. Adolfo Bioy Casares (Argentina)
The invention of Morel (Es: La Invención de Morel; Pt: A invenção de Morel);

2. Carlos Drummond de Andrade (Brazil)
Travelling in the Family: Selected Poems of Carlos Drummond de Andrade (Coletânea)

3. Carlos Fuentes (Mexico)
 The Death of Artemiro Cruz (Es: La muerte de Artemiro Cruz; Pt: A morte de Artemiro Cruz)

4. Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Es: Cien Años de Soledad; Pt: Cem Anos de Solidão)

5. Guimarães Rosa (Brazil)
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (Pt: Grande Sertão: Veredas; Es: Gran Sertón: Veredas)

6. Isabel Allende (Chile)
The House of Spirits (Es: La casa de los espíritus; Pt: A casa dos espíritos)

7. Jorge Amado (Brazil)
Capitains of the Sand (Pt: Capitães de Areia; Es: Capitanes de la Arena);

8. Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)
Collected Fictions (Es: Ficciones; Pt: Ficções)

9. Julio Cortázar (Argentina)
 All fires the fire (Es: Todo los fuegos el fuego; Pt: Todos os fogos o fogo)

10. Machado de Assis (Brazil)
Epitaph of a Small Winner (Pt: Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas; Es: Memorias Póstumas de Blas Cubas)

11. Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
The war of the end of the world (Es: La guerra del fin del mundo; Pt: A guerra do fim do mundo)

12. Octavio Paz (Mexico)
 The Labyrinth of Solitude (Es: El laberinto de la soledad)

13. Pablo Neruda (Chile)
Selected Poems (Coletânea)

14. Paulo Coelho (Brazil)
 Veronika decides to die (Pt: Veronika decide morrer; Es: Verónica decide morir)

15. Roberto Bolaño (Chile)
 The Savage Detectives (Es: Los Detectives Salvajes)

These 15 are great  writers and some of them have won the Nobel Prize in Literature other prestigious awards in the Spanish or Portuguese language world (e.g., Premios Príncipe de Asturias, Prêmio Machado de Assis, Prêmio Jabuti, Premio Miguel de Cervantes, Prêmio Camões, and so on). 

In addition to these 15 Great Writers, there are these other 5 writers who didn't fulfill the criteria, but whose books are very good as well and whose works have been rewarded with some of the prizes I cited above: Mario Benedetti (Uruguay), Augusto Monterroso (Guatemala/Honduras), Alejo Carpentier (Cuba), Erico Verissimo (Brazil), and Gabriela Mistral (Chile).