José de Sousa Saramago (Azinhaga, Santarém, Portugal, November 16, 1922-Tías, Lanzarote, Spain, June 18, 2010) was a Portuguese writer, novelist, poet, journalist and dramatist. In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Swedish Academy highlighted its ability to "make a fugitive reality understandable, with parables supported by imagination, compassion and irony"