Paz, Octavio Octavio Paz, a Mexican writer, poet, and essayist, will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature this year, honoring a Spanish writer with a broad international viewpoint. He is the first Latin American to receive the award. Born in Mexico City on March 24, 1912, he was raised by his grandparents after his father died when he was only two years old. He studied law and economics at the University of California, Berkeley, but left school before graduating to work as an editor for several newspapers in California. In 1939 he moved to Mexico where he started writing essays and poetry for various magazines. He also worked as a news analyst for Radio Mexico and taught literature and psychology at the National School of Arts and Crafts. From 1951 to 1963 he was secretary-general of what is now known as the Organization of American States (OAS). In 1967 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Mexico and in 1975 he was appointed to the International Peace Bureau in Geneva. In 1992 he received the Léopold Senghor Prize from UNESCO and the following year was elected president of PEN America. He died in October 1996 at the age of 83 after suffering from cancer for several months. So, Paz won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year.