The news of the death of the famous South American writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez affected many Iranians who loved him because of his books. His popularity in Iran, however, is not simply due to his magical realism, but also has to do with politics.

Almost all of Garcia Marquez's famous novels are known in Iran. The famous Iranian translator Bahman Farzaneh introduced the king of Colombian literature to Iranian society nearly 40 years ago with "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

“One thinks that some people should never die,” said Alireza at the central branch of the City of Books bookstore on Shariati Street. “For me, Marquez was one of those people. Although he was almost 90 years old, news of his death was still shocking.” Alireza, like most other Iranian fans of Garcia Marquez, had read most of his books and believes his work has “deeply influenced my character and the way I view the world.”

 “I don’t think there is any other contemporary writer as popular as Marquez in Iran,” a literary critic in Tehran said to Al-Monitor. “I say this as someone who is not even a big fan of Marquez.” He said that part of the modern appeal of Garcia Marquez for Iranians was what he offered a society that had endured a sad, war-stricken era during the 1980s.