Garcia Marquez memoirs hit Colombia

Vivir Para Contarla (Live To Tell It), made its debut in bookshops around the country on Tuesday night.

The 75-year-old author, who is suffering from lymphatic cancer and lives in Mexico City, did not attend the launch.

Live To Tell It details the first 30 years of Mr Garcia Marquez's life, up to 1955.

In it, he revisits the Colombian town of Aracataca, where he was born, and which provided the inspiration for his most famous novel, One Hundred Years Of Solitude.

He also recounts his time working as a journalist for a number of Colombian newspapers, including El Espectador and El Heraldo.

Piracy

The remaning 45 years of Mr Garcia Marquez' life will be outlined in a series of novellas, the author said in a recent interview.

English, French and German translations of the memoirs are underway, while the book is due to be published in Latin American countries and Spain next week.

Mr Garcia Marquez, who has not visited his home country for three years, won the Nobel Literature prize in 1982.

His latest work, which has been heavily publicised in Colombia, is expected to be a best-seller.

However, police are on the alert for illegal versions of the book after 20 copies were stolen from a delivery truck and immediately went on sale in street corners in Armenia, west of the capital Bogota.

Book piracy is common in Colombia, with many best-sellers being illegally copied and sold on the street.