Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was a poet, essayist, and diplomat from Mexico City, and he remains the only Mexican to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most famous book is the essay collection The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950), a classic reflection on Mexican identity.

Don’t confuse him with Mexico’s other Nobel laureates: Alfonso García Robles won the Peace Prize in 1982 and Mario Molina won the Chemistry Prize in 1995.