(7 Mar 2014) Colombian novelist and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez briefly greeted fans and media who had gathered outside his Mexico City home on Thursday to wish him a happy 87th birthday.
"Gabo", as he is affectionately known in Latin America, came out of his home to shake hands with well-wishers, who sang for him "Las Mananitas," the traditional Mexican song for birthdays.
The novelist didn't make any public remarks, but smiled and sang along.
Throughout the morning , flower arrangements were delivered to Garcia Marquez's house, most of them yellow, his favourite.
Arcelia Ruiz, a Garcia Marquez a fan and personal friend, brought him a cake as a present.
Marquez is the eldest of 16 children and was born in Aracataca, a small Colombian town in the Magdalena province.
He left the small town at the age of nine and has not been back since 1982.
For decades, the author has made his home in Mexico City, with frequent visits to Havana, Cuba, where he is a close friend of fellow octogenarian Fidel Castro.
He began his career as a journalist, going on to become a foreign correspondent and political activist and author.
His short stories and novels brought him significant critical acclaim and he went on to win the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982.
Marquez's epic novel "100 Years of Solitude" introduced the world both to his native village and to the style of "magical realism," in which fantastic events are made to appear ordinary.
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