Marcio Veloz Maggiolo (see photo) who is considered to be the Dominican Republic's leading living writer, has been nominated as a candidate for the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature by the Dominican Academy of Language. The Academy director, Bruno Rosario Candelier highlighted Veloz Maggiolo's prolific career, and described the lawyer and academic as a "renowned writer" who posssessed "a brilliant body of fictional work and prolific bibliography encompassing several genres".He added that the Academy based their nomination on his "significant and prolific creative and scientific career" and on "his work as an inspiration for narrative trends or as an intellectual guide for the 1960's generation".
The writer who was born in Santo Domingo in 1936, holds a degree in philosophy from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and a doctorate in American history from Madrid's Complutense University, continued Rosario Candelier.
He is also a member of the Dominican Academy of Language, a professor at the UASD University and is currently the director of the Musuem of Dominican Man.
Veloz Maggiolo won the Dominican Republic's National Literature Prize in 1983.
His works include "La mosca soldado" (nominated for the 2004 Jose Manuel Lara Hernandez prize for fiction), "Ritos de Cabaret", "La vida no tiene nombre", "Nosotros los suicidas", "El jefe iba descalzo" and "La memoria fermentada".
Veloz Maggiolo has also served as the Dominican Republic's ambassador to Mexico, Italy and Peru.
