‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ Tops Poll of World Literature

Gabriel García Márquez’s seminal novel One Hundred Years of Solitude is the piece of writing that has most shaped world literature over the past 25 years, according to a survey of international writers.

Barack Obama‘s memoir, Dreams from My Father, also makes an appearance on the list of favourite works chosen by fellow writers.

Indra Sinha, Blake Morrison, Amit Chaudhuri and 22 other authors were asked to pick the title that they felt had most influenced world writing over the past quarter-century. The survey was conducted by the international literary magazine Wasafiri – meaning “cultural traveller” in Swahili – which celebrates its 25th anniversary today.

Márquez’s novel was the only book to be selected more than once. It was chosen by three authors: Chika Unigwe, Sujata Bhatt and the Ghanaian writer Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

Parkes said: “[It] taught the west how to read a reality alternative to their own, which in turn opened the gates for other non-western writers like myself and other writers from Africa and Asia.

“Apart from the fact that it’s an amazing book, it taught western readers tolerance for other perspectives.”