Born: 16 November 1922 · Died: 18 June 2010 · Age at death: 87
How old was José Saramago when he died?
José Saramago died aged 87. He was born on 16 November 1922 and died on 18 June 2010.
Portuguese novelist of Blindness and The Gospel According to Jesus Christ who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?He did not achieve international fame or publish his most celebrated works until he was well into his sixties.
Quick facts
Date of birth16 November 1922
Date of death18 June 2010
Age at death87
Cause of deathLeukemia
NationalityPortuguese
BirthplaceAzinhaga, Portugal
Occupationjournalist, playwright, translator
Editor's Take:
José Saramago wrote novels like nobody else. Born to a poor rural family in Portugal, he worked as a mechanic, civil servant and journalist. Fame came late, when he was in his sixties. His long, flowing sentences use few full stops and no quotation marks. His stories begin with an impossible idea, such as a whole city going blind. Blindness and The Gospel According to Jesus Christ caused debate. In 1998 he became Portugal's first Nobel laureate in literature.
Key Milestones
1982: Baltasar and Blimunda – novel
1991: The Gospel According to Jesus Christ – novel
1995: Blindness – novel
1998: Nobel Prize in Literature
José de Sousa Saramago (European Portuguese:; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese writer.
José Saramago's birthday is November 16. He was born on November 16, 1922 in Azinhaga, Portugal.
How old was José Saramago when he died?
José Saramago died on June 18, 2010, aged 87.
Who shares a birthday with José Saramago?
Famous people who share José Saramago's November 16 birthday include Guillermo Lasso, Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, Chinua Achebe, Sanna Marin and Paul Scholes.
