Brazilian writer Jorge Amado dies aged 88
Jorge Amado - the best-selling author in Brazil's history - has died in hospital. He was 88.
Amado, who suffered from diabetes, was admitted to the Alianca Hospital in northeastern city of Salvador da Bahia.
The cause of death was not immediately clear.
Born in 1912 on a cocoa plantation in the state of Bahia, Amado wrote 32 books translated into 48 languages, from Albanian to Vietnamese.
He enchanted readers worldwide with his good-humoured and lusty tales.
Three of his novels - Gabriela, Clove And Cinnamon and Dona Flor And Her Two Husbands - were made into TV series and movies, all starring sultry Brazilian actress Sonia Braga.
Amado, who had been in poor health in recent years and was briefly in a coma during a 26-day stay at a hospital last month, credited his Jesuit schooling for his early fascination with literature.
At 15, he was a reporter for the newspaper Diario da Bahia in Salvador, the state capital, leaving three years later for Rio de Janeiro to concentrate on fiction.
In 1931, when he was barely 19, he published his first novel, O Pais Do Carnival, (The Land Of Carnival), which has never been translated into English.
Sprawling, exotic Bahia was his favourite setting, and the gulf that separated rich and poor a constant theme. It was a contrast he knew firsthand - his father, a small farmer, was wounded three times in clashes with the powerful "colonels," as Bahia's landowning political bosses were known.
"I am no James Joyce," Amado said. "I'm an anti-elitist. I use popular language. And in my works 'the people' always win. I'm very proud of that. My message is one of hope instead of despair."
