| Birth Date: | September 9, 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Lima, Peru |
| Death Place: | Mejorada del Campo, Madrid, Spain |
| Occupation: | Novelist, Poet, Political activist |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Period: | 1955–1983 |
Manuel Scorza (September 9, 1928November 27, 1983) was an important Peruvian novelist, poet, and political activist, exiled under the regime of Manuel Odría. He was born in Lima.
Scorza was a member of a student group affiliated with the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) called The Poets of the People .[1]
He is best known for the series of five novels, known collectively as "The Silent War," that began with Redoble por Rancas (1970). All five have been translated into more than forty languages, including English.
He died when his plane, Avianca Flight 011, crashed on approach to Madrid's Barajas Airport after striking a series of hilltops. The crash killed 181 passengers, including Mexican novelist and playwright Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Uruguayan writer, academic, and literary critic Ángel Rama, and Argentinian art critic Marta Traba.[2]
Redoble por Rancas (1970) (Drums for Rancas, translated by Edith Grossman, 1977)
Historia de Garabombo el Invisible (1972) (Garabombo, the Invisible, translated by Anna-Marie Aldaz, 1994)
El Jinete Insomne (1977) (The Sleepless Rider, translated by Anna-Marie Aldaz, 1996)
Cantar de Agapito Robles (1977) (The Ballad of Agapito Robles, translated by Anna-Marie Aldaz, 1999)
La Tumba del Relámpago (1979) (Requiem for a Lightning Bolt, translated by Anna-Marie Aldaz, 2000)