Miguel Angel Asturias’ impact on Guatemalan culture went well beyond his powerful literature. He helped found an affordable university, traveled as a correspondent for Latin American newspapers, served as a foreign diplomat, and eventually won the prominent Lenin peace prize. His novels tackle dictatorship, defend Mayan culture, and illuminate Indian legend. The Academy awarded Asturias the Nobel Prize "for his vivid literary achievement, deep-rooted in the national traits and traditions of Indian peoples of Latin America."
