The 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz (1914–1998) "for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity.

[2][3] One of the best known works by Octavio Paz is El laberinto de la soledad ("The Labyrinth of Solitude", 1950), a collection of essays in which he analyzes Mexican history and culture.

Paz has solely released poetry volumes up to this time including Piedra de Sol ("Sunstone", 1957).

He started a number of literary publications, such as Vuelta and El hijo pródigo.

[6] Literary circles believed that among the nominees for that year were the perennial candidates such as Carlos Fuentes, another Mexican writer; Nadine Gordimer, a South African writer (awarded the following year); V. S. Naipaul, a Trinidad-born novelist who lives in Britain (awarded in 2001); Milan Kundera, a Czech novelist exiled in France; Max Frisch, a Swiss playwright; and Mario Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian writer (awarded in 2010).