Gabriel Garcia Marquez Can No Longer Write, Brother Says; Suffers from Dementia

Iconic author and Nobel-Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez is unable to write, says his brother.

According to reports, the author is suffering from dementia after a bout with cancer that put his life at risk. The dementia has made the author unable to continue writing.

Jaime Garcia Marquez, the author's younger sibling, told students in Cartagena, Colombia that the chemotherapy saved his life but also accelerated the destruction of neurons and brought about dementia, which runs in their family. Jaime also added that Garcia Marquez has problems with his memory.

Garcia Marquez, 85, is most famous for his novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" which was published in Spanish in 1967 and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The novel has also been translated into over 30 languages. Ironically the novel emphasizes the story of a patriarch who increasingly loses touch with his family and reality.

Garcia Marquez's work is known for creating the genre of magical realism which combined the real with fantasy and became associated with Latin American literature. His other major works include the novels "Love in the Time of Cholera," "The Autumn of the Patriarch," "The General and His Labyrinth" and the novella "Chronicle of a Death Foretold." "The General and His Labrynth" was controversial for its portrayal of a delirious Simon Bolivar and was even criticized as anti-patriotic for its desecration of one of Latin America's greatest heroes.  He has written one memoir, "Living to Tell the Tale," intended to be the first book in a series. His brother says that he does not expect he will be able to complete the story.

Garcia Marquez has been living in Mexico for the last few years but has not made many public appearances in recent years.