Which Peruvian author wrote 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter'?

Mario Vargas Llosa wrote Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. First published in Spanish as La tía Julia y el escribidor in 1977, the novel draws heavily on the Peruvian author’s early adulthood, journalism, and first marriage.

Set in 1950s Lima, the story follows an aspiring young writer who works at a radio station and falls in love with Julia, an older divorcee. Alongside this semi-autobiographical plot are episodes about Pedro Camacho, an eccentric Bolivian writer hired to produce radio soap operas. Camacho’s increasingly bizarre scripts begin to collapse into one another, creating a comic exploration of storytelling and obsession.

The real-life model for Julia was Julia Urquidi, Vargas Llosa’s first wife. She later published her own memoir, Lo que Varguitas no dijo, offering a different account of their relationship. The novel’s blend of personal memory, popular broadcasting, parody, and fiction-within-fiction is why it is often viewed as one of Vargas Llosa’s lighter, more playful works. It was adapted into the 1990 film Tune in Tomorrow.