Octavio Paz won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature and was also a Mexican diplomat. The Swedish Academy recognized his wide-ranging writing, marked by sensuous intelligence and humanistic exploration.
Paz was born in Mexico City in 1914 and became one of the major Spanish-language poets and essayists of the twentieth century. His best-known prose work, The Labyrinth of Solitude, examines Mexican identity, history, and culture. His poetry often investigates time, language, erotic love, and perception.
Paz entered Mexico’s diplomatic service and served in several countries, including India. He resigned from the service in 1968 in protest against the Mexican government’s response to the Tlatelolco massacre. He is sometimes confused with Carlos Fuentes, another major Mexican novelist, but Fuentes never won the Nobel Prize.