Today, the world of letters bids farewell to Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most influential voices in contemporary literature. Nobel laureate, tireless narrator of human passions, and chronicler of the eternal tensions between freedom and power, Vargas Llosa leaves behind an immortal body of work—and for us, a deep and intimate bond with Formentor.
It was here, in Pollença, in Formentor, in this privileged corner of Mallorca, that the Peruvian-Spanish author shared long evenings with other literary giants—Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, Carlos Barral—during the celebrated Formentor Literary Conversations. These gatherings were more than intellectual events: they were true celebrations of the written word, rituals of creativity and thought.
Between passionate debates and sunset strolls, a kind of Club of Poets was born (named after a nearby bar or meeting place close to the hotel), where verses mingled with wine and novels were mere excuses to talk about life. Back then, Formentor was more than just a hotel—it was a refuge for the literary soul.
Vargas Llosa once said:
“Literature is fire. It is insurrection, it is criticism. It cannot be neutral.”
And so was his presence in Formentor: fiery, critical, alive.
It is said—as part of those legends that only arise in soulful places—that at one of those dinners, between laughter and provocation, Cela joked with García Márquez: “You write magical realism, but I live brutal realism.” And that Vargas Llosa, ever sharp, added with irony: “Ours is political realism… with a hangover.”
Beyond the anecdotes, the truth is that Mallorca—and especially Formentor—was a privileged witness to an unrepeatable moment in literary history. Ideas soared, glasses were raised to the rhythm of verse, and the hotel’s hallways became corridors of inspiration.
Many still associate Pollença with creation, with free thinking, with art nourished by landscape and conversation. And though his voice falls silent today, that spirit of dialogue and the desire to narrate and understand the world still drifts through every corner of Formentor.
